Trapped
by Jalein
Summary: another one of my in-depth stories, this one a little darker with a AvP theme to it. All original characters, an original storyline, and a little creative retooling. let me know how my first venture into Horror writing strikes you.
1. Chapter 1

(A/N: This is a three-chapter starter.)

_Trapped_

This is a fan fiction to the popular movies, books, and comics of Alien vs Predator. It is by no means an official sanctioned story and is a work of fiction by Justin Wehunt and Sean Sierra. This will be an ongoing story so be sure to check back regularly for updated chapters. Also, bear in mind that the authors are by no means experts on the Alien vs. Predator universe, so if there is an inconsistency between our writing and what has been stated before in the books, by all means send us your input so we can make a correction. Thank you.

Prologue

The year is 2350.

Mankind has not only stepped into the void of space, but they have mastered a new form of travel that makes travel between space faster, safer, and more effective; this is known as the E-drive. Using the E-drive, the colonists of mankind are able to slip into areas of the galaxy otherwise unreachable and set up mining colonies, agriculture plants, and even some living colonies to support the ever expanding human population. Mankind has slipped the bonds of the earth and traveled the stars as if it were the sea.

Perhaps one of mankind's most crowning achievements are constructions that are known as the "Star stations"; massive living space stations hundreds of miles in diameter, with their own self contained atmosphere and recycle-systems to help grow food and maintain themselves almost entirely on their own power. Within these Star stations, thousands if not more people live, work, and create lives for themselves, living happy day to day lives.

Unknown to all though, the Star stations have attracted the attention of other visitors, visitors who see these places not as home, but a grand opportunity…

A self contained hunting ground…

This is where the nightmares of children become reality, the thoughts of the deranged and mad given flesh and blood, where man becomes the prey, and the mysterious forces known as the Predators hunt.

* * * * * * * * * * * * **  
Earth time: 1300 hours

"Damn it, Trezice! Give up on that lift suit! We had three mechanics look that suit over trying to fix it but they can't find out what's wrong. This thing is going to the scrap heap" came the loud, irritated voice of Captain Drendle.

In the mechanics bay of the Space Forces, Lieutenant Charles Trezice worked diligently on a lift suit, a mechanical suit ten feet high designed to make the lifting of heavy crates and shipping supplies possible without the constant need for a crane. The suit wasn't functioning, it wouldn't even start, and everyone else had already given up on it. Charles took it as a personal challenge to find out what was wrong and fix it, haughtily knowing he was better than everyone else. He had to work for everything he got in life, he had to fight tooth and nail for every scrap of dignity he could get, and he wasn't about to let some know-it-all captain tell him how to do his job.

"Could you keep it down? I think I have an idea what might be wrong but I can't concentrate when you're screeching like a damn banshee" he responded, looking away from his work for the briefest of seconds to see the captain's face turn a bright crimson hue. Charles Trezice was a tall and lanky man in his early twenties, scrawny and skinny, which was the exact opposite of his superior who was short and overweight with a bald head and bad attitude. He couldn't help but think how much like a bowling ball this man resembled, which caused him to smile to himself as he reached his hand in the power core of the unit, feeling around for what he was looking for.

"YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF HORSE SHIT! I SWEAR TO EVERY LIVING POWER OUT THERE IM GOING TO---" he started when Charles grabbed hold of what he was looking for, pulling it out and examining it closely. The fuse to the starter cells was shorted out, something that never seemed to surprise him every time they missed it, since only someone who spent hours skimming over schematics and electrical flow charts would even think to look at it.

"Got it, Captain. Hook me up with a 1.5 Hilowatt fuse would you?" he said, showing the busted fuse to the rapidly draining colored face of Captain Drendle.

"How could--there's no way--you sabotaged it to make our department look bad, didn't you?!" he blustered, grasping at straws so badly the only other person in that bay burst into laughter.

"Give it up, Captain, no one on the whole station is better at this shit then Trezice. The guy could run this whole shop on his own if he wanted to and you know it," Sergeant Manuel Sierra spoke up from his reclined spot in a chair. He was a fairly average height man also in his early twenties with tan skin, body covered in muscles, and a menacing looking pulse rifle slung over the back of his chair, a weapon that fired condensed bolts of electric energy instead of bullets. He was in charge of the mechanics bay security during the day hours.

The captain rounded on the other man. "You stay out of this, Sierra! I know you are probably in cahoots with him!" he screamed, intent on getting Charles in trouble for proving him wrong on the fifth piece of equipment he managed to save from the junkyard since he had arrived.

"Captain, can't you just accept I'm better than any of the staff you have here? It will make things a lot easier on you," Charles said, hopping down from his platform to get the fuse himself and replacing it.

The captain swelled with indignation. "Don't give me that crap! The only reason you're even here is because your brother the major pulled strings to get your scrawny ass in the Space Forces! With your record you should be scrubbing pots back on earth right now!" he said, causing Charles's eyebrow to twitch and the captain to smile with his pudgy cheeks, knowing he had him.

Seeing the desired result, the captain continued egging him on. "Don't think I haven't looked at your service record. You were kicked out of every school you enrolled in, barely graduated high school and the academy, and you're here only so your brother can make sure you don't embarrass him anymore then you already have," he said triumphantly, knowing he hit a soft spot.

Charles somehow managed to restrain himself and not beat the shit out of the captain. "And I suppose the fact I had perfect scores in every subject of mechanics and electrical components had nothing to do with it?! I earned my right to be here, I passed all my combat training and aced every exam I ever took along with every physical training exercise I've had to do. Let's see your fat ass run a mile!" he roared, flying off the handle, face filled with rage.

Before the captain could even respond indignantly, Manuel noticed the blast door open and the man walking in, Major Adam Trezice, the section leader of this part of the station and Lieutenant Charles Trezice's twin brother.

"Officer on deck!" he called out, jumping out of his chair and popping a salute with trained discipline. Before the other two could even turn around, the major waved them off.

"At ease, I heard the yelling from the hallway, what seems to be the problem here, Captain?" he asked, locking eyes with the captain much the same way a hawk would.

"Nothing, sir! Was merely settling a dispute with Lieutenant Trezice, sir!" he spoke with a mix of fear and respect, not wishing to repeat any of the talk he was having with the major's brother.

"Really now? It's good to know that we can handle things on the chain of command instead of having to get the higher authorities involved. Now tell me, are we still junking this suit or has it been repaired yet?" he asked casually, waving his hand to the recently repaired lift suit.

"Sir, there was a blown fuse. It is now being replaced as we speak," the captain answered, not skipping a beat to take the credit for what Charles had accomplished.

"Very nice, very nice. Good work, Captain. Why don't the shift here take the afternoon off to thank them for saving our group another million credits that we were about to throw away?" he suggested, waving to the two on duty.

"Sir, that's an excellent idea. They will be released from duty right now," he said respectfully, making Lieutenant Charles Trezice want to gag at how much the captain was kissing his brother's ass.

"Very good. You two heard him, dismissed!" Major Adam Trezice said, flashing a cunning smile toward his brother, as if to say that he owed him before walking out the room.

When the blast door closed behind him, Captain Drendle relaxed noticeably before turning back on them.

"You two get out of here before I change my mind," he ground out. Manuel and Charles instantly took off back to their quarters before he could do just what he said.

Trezice knew it was a good day.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
Earth Time: 1800 hours

Drinking down the liquor with surprising speed, Manuel Sierra sat with Charles Trezice in the small bar near their rooms.

"I'm telling you, man, this shit is pissing me off. Every single post I'm given, everyone always assumes my brother got it for me, like I never earned it on my own," Charles grumbled in irritation. Manuel waved for another set of rounds before speaking.

"Don't worry, man, shit like this happens. We're in the Space Forces, did you think they were going to make it easy on us?" he asked. Charles ran his hands through his short black hair before moaning a sigh of disappointment.

"Well, it still pisses me off," he grumbled before the set of drinks arrived. Just as he was about to grab his mug, a swift hand snatched it away before sitting down at the table beside them.

"Hello, boys, mind if a lady joins your drinking tonight?" came the familiar voice of Andrea Cordova, Adam's fiancée.

"That depends; where's the lady?" Manuel shot back, making sure his cup was safely in hand and taking a large swig.

"Oh, such harsh words, you truly hurt me," she said dramatically, gingerly drinking Charles's drink. It was a long moment before she spoke again but it was filled with meaning and intent.

"I heard your brother saved your rear again today for blowing up at your boss. You really need to reign in that temper of yours," she said, sitting down next to them.

"The asshole started it---."

Andrea immediately cut him off, seemingly uninterested in his defense. "And he would have finished your career. He's your boss, you need to play the game if you intend on making it here" she said, taking another sip. Manuel noticed her curled blonde hair and alluring figure that would seduce almost any man that happened to gaze upon it for too long. Her brilliant green eyes were in stark contrast to his own dark brown and Charles's hazel, making her stand out even more. If it wasn't for the fact she had a superiority complex, Manuel wouldn't mind making a pass at her, but he let it go, knowing this kind of girl would only cause trouble.

"Did you come here just to rub this in my face again?" Charles asked, eyes sinking to the table.

"No, I came to make sure you boys were alright. We've had some more disappearances lately, and not just the usual AWOL. This time it's civilians like me too. Women, children, men, all are going missing." She spoke in quiet hushed tones.

Andrea continued, "Your brother wanted to make sure you two were ok. He really does care about you, you know?" She drained the cup of all that remained.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he said, looking at Manuel, pretty sure he was remembering the reports on the vid-screens. Apparently there had been a number of disappearances lately, some thirty or forty people. His guess was a slave ring taking them off station, but it was only a guess.

"Well, I'll see you two later, I have to go fulfill my part as fiancée to the Major" she said, intending it for them to think dirty thoughts even though they both knew she merely meant to give him the company reports that she ran. Their marriage was arranged, and though they did seem to have a deep bond for each other, it never seemed to be anything other than platonic.

"Well, should we get back?" Manuel asked, offering to help him to his feet.

"Nah, I need to stop by the mechanics bay again, I need to grab something I left behind" he said, getting up on shaky legs before the alcohol settled in him enough to easy his walking.

"Alright, I'll go with you," he offered, not letting his concern for his friend show too completely.

Walking out the bar door they headed in the direction of the bay, hoping that Captain Drendle was gone already, though he probably spent his time after hours plotting how to get them both kicked out…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
Earth Time: 1830 hours

The bastard had done it for the last time!  
Captain Drendle had worked too hard on his career to watch this snot nose brat ruin it all for him. Fuming in his office, he paced back and forth trying to think how he could get rid of that little wart on his side. He thought that maybe he could bring them up on disrespecting a senior officer, but there was no way his brother would let that one slide. He would shoot it down before it even turned into a paper trail. He needed to find something that could go above his head, above the major all the way to the general on board. That would take time to think of and frame him for, but he would do it and get it done, he would make sure of that.

A strange sound echoed from outside his office, something like a banging of a metal crate falling over. Face looking out toward the bay, he opened his door and began to look around. The bay was silent now, the lights were all illuminated, the crates and tools all put away in the order they should have been. It must have been a rat, somehow they make it onto the station despite pest control's best efforts. Not a soul stirred around and the blast door didn't even open, so it must have come in from the ducts.

Then it sounded again, off to his left.

Tired of this constant rat problem, he took a boot from a nearby locker and stalked in the direction of the sound. These steel toe boots were large enough that if they came down on a rat hard enough it would kill it instantly, so he carefully and quietly sneaked on the area of the sound. Creeping ever so closer, he could begin to make out the sound of what must have been the skittering of the thing's claws on the metallic floor. Smiling to himself, he crept up on the sound, drawing ever closer till he was separated from it by a single crate. Peeking over the lid, boot in hand, he tried to get a good look at the rodent he was about to smash.

A sudden leap from what could only be explained as an oversized spider the size of two palms connected to his face. He tried to desperately scream for help, grasping at the thing to tear it off his face when it felt like a long tube was jammed down his throat and a long tail lashed around his neck, choking the air from him. Then suddenly, everything went black as he faded into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Earth Time: 2100 hours

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Charles Trezice walked down the long corridor from the bar to the mechanics bay, his friend Manuel Sierra following close beside him. He wasn't drunk from the liquor he consumed, most likely due to the fact his brother's fiancée had stolen a good portion of his share, but it kept him feeling well enough to remember his belongings in the mechanics bay so he wouldn't get yelled at for leaving his ID card again. The metallic hallways always seemed to be so cold and creepy when one was alone; they lent the feeling of being more an anthill than an actual human living space. But he didn't care… the feel of cold metal was far more preferred by him than dirt, wood, or stone.

"What do you have planned for tomorrow? Anything good?" He asked Manuel, who seemed to come out of his thoughts at his attempt at idle chatter.

"Nah, I got nothing. Maybe send a vid-mail to the wife and kid, you know," he said, kind of shrugging off the question. It was always uncomfortable whenever Andrea came around, she always seemed to leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth and it left them both in an ill mood.

After a few more minutes, they finally arrived at the bay. Punching in his access code to enter, the blast door opened quietly. The lights were on in the bay, which meant the good captain was still there. Surprisingly though, they saw he was slumped over face down and away from them on top of a crate.

"Geez, I guess even the captain drinks at work," Manuel joked, causing a slight chuckle out of Charles, the first laugh they had almost since being at the bar. Walking over casually, Charles grabbed hold of the (captain's) shoulder and tried to jostle him.

"Yo, Captain, this isn't the place to be---" he began as he rolled him over; he gasped in shock. The captain's face was permanently frozen in pain, the middle of his chest gored out, exposing his insides.

"Jesus fucking Christ! What the hell?!" he cried out in horror, jumping away from the grisly scene. Manuel looked like he was about to vomit but somehow managed to hold it in before reaching for his pulse rifle locker and punching in the code to get out his weapon.

"Charles, get on the com!, we need to report this now!" he said bravely, instantly taking charge.

"Right!" Charles said, rushing over to the com pad on the wall. As he started putting in his code and the channel, there was a loud crash from several of the crates near the repaired lift suit. Whipping around, Manuel leveled the gun in that direction, eyes trained for any movement.

"Get on the com now, Charles, we need to get this reported," he ordered gruffly, all traces of mirth now off of his face. Charles finished punching in his code as Manuel cautiously stepped closer to the crates. It was no good, there was only static. On every channel he tried, there was only static, even on the military only channels that were supposed to be online twenty four hours a day and never fail.

Manuel continued to inch closer and closer to the sound, rifle never leaving the intended sight of the target. Cautiously, he moved closer, till the skittering sound became apparent. Charles watched him carefully, grabbing an overly large wrench, a rather useless weapon right now, but none the less comforting to the mechanic. With a sudden dive around the crates, Manuel opened fire with a hoarse battle cry as Charles came rushing to his side.

Turning around the corner of the crates, he couldn't help but emit a shaky laugh at the now gory remains of the rat he had just obliterated.

"Damn, man, don't you think that's a little overki---" Charles began when a sound caught his attention long enough to see an oversized mutant spider thing fly straight for his face.

Purely on reflex, Charles lifted the wrench over his face just in time to keep it from landing, though what felt like a tail began to try and strangle him.

"MANUEL! HELP!" he choked out in a panic, keeping the wrench in between his face and the mutated spider. Instantly, Manuel was on it, pulling at the thing, trying to yank it off his throat and away from his face, barely making any progress. Charles was watching in horror as he tried to desperately keep it from connecting a strange tube-like protrusion extending from what must have been its mouth trying to stick it inside his own.

After a few moments, they finally managed to pull it off before throwing it away on the floor as Manuel aimed the gun and fired at it, blasting it into a messy paste.

"My God, what the fuck _is_ that thing?!" Manuel screamed, his eyes wide with shock.

"How the hell should I know?" Charles responded when he noticed something strange about the corpse. Its blood began to eat through the floor, corroding it away and dissolving it.

"Manuel, we have to get out of here," Charles said in a rush, grabbing his ID and a gun from Manuel's gun locker.

"You don't need to tell me twice," Manuel said dryly, grabbing some extra ammo clips and putting on his protective vest. Charles donned his and only as a quick afterthought grabbed some electrical tools and equipment from the crates and tool boxes.

"What do you think you're doing?" Manuel asked impatiently as he strapped everything into his backpack.

"We don't know what's going on. We may need these later," he said, cocking his rifle before punching the exit code to leave the bay.

"Where do we go from here? The com is busted," Manuel said, looking around each corner as if something would jump out and attack them at any interval.

"My brother's building complex. He has several guards there round the clock; and I bet there's a working com," Charles answered breathlessly, following suit, making sure he was on constant alert.

"Alright, let's go, I don't want to be around here anymore than I have to," Manuel said, carefully making his way down the hall, eyes scanning for anymore of those strange spiderlike creatures.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Earth Time: 2200 hours

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Adam couldn't help but appreciate the dull boredom of working in his office. It was always quiet, never exciting and never changing. The constant flow of paperwork kept his mind busy, and he never had to leave his office unless he had to. It was a calm sort of comforting pleasure he was afforded here. A soft knock was heard on the door startling him from his pleasant thoughts and peaceful dreams.

"Enter," he called, bringing himself from his thoughts to the present. He thought he heard a sound from the air vents nearby, but dismissed it. He firmly believed that only when something happened three times was it more than a coincidence. Opening the door was one of his newer soldiers, having arrived to the station no less than a week ago. Of course, all the experienced soldiers were out at the docking bays, ensuring supplies were coming in and no smuggling was going on. It was nice to know he was at least worth posting a guard for.

"Major, we have two visitors here armed with weapons, demanding to speak with you. They refuse to let go of their arms, insisting they were in grave danger. They identified themselves as a Sergeant Sierra and Lieutenant Trezice," he spoke, the words almost making Adam groan in misery. It was true he had to get his brother out of a few scrapes with his push and pull, but he always justified it with how many credits his brother always saved the station by salvaging equipment that all thought were lost. However, holstering weapons outside of their designated zones was strictly prohibited and enforced with Spartan discipline. Hopefully no one saw them on the way over and he could save his foolish brother before things got out of hand.

"Send them in," he sighed, giving the soldier prompt to leave. Within a few moments, both his brother and Manuel entered, but something was very wrong with them. Adam was always good at reading people, and the only thing he saw from his brother's eyes was fear.  
Wide eyed, bone-chilling fear.

"Charles, I hope you're about to tell me you're carrying that around for nothing less than an order from a colonel or above, otherwise you will be lucky to have only a discharge if you were seen," he spoke sternly, trying to keep his cool, unnerved by his brother's fear.

There was that noise in the vents again. Was it a rat?

"Brother! We have a problem! Captain Drendle is dead! There was a…a…a spider thing as big as a head leaping out and trying to attack us, and when we shot it, it melted through the floor!" he spouted frantically, realizing the words sounded foolish even to himself.

Adam blinked in amazement for a second…

"Have you been drinking?" he asked finally, trying to process all of what his brother said at once.

"No!" he blurted quickly, then paused. "Well, yes, but this is real! I swear on it!" he shouted hysterically, the whole argument falling together for Adam who raised his hand to rub his brow. He was his brother, for good or for bad, and there was always a ready supply of bad apparently.

"Charles, you're drunk. Leave the weapons here and I will take them back, saying I ordered an emergency inspection. Also, I'm putting you and the sergeant on a no alcohol policy for the next six months," he said, leaning back in his chair.

The sound was growing louder. It was too big to be a rat, but what else could it be?

"Brother! I'm serious! Something bad is going on here! Even the com systems aren't working, they are all fried! Check it and see if you can get anything," he said urgently, eyes growing wider with fear. Sighing quietly, Adam picked up the com on his desk and patiently punched in his code, calling the mechanics bay to check on Captain Drendle, who was allegedly dead.

There was only static.

Thinking this strange, he tried several other channels, even the top secret ones only he could have access to. All that could be heard was static.

"This is very odd. How could all the channels be out like that?" he asked. A cold chill ran up his spine as that sound he heard grew louder still, right to his left in an air grate. Didn't they say they killed a large spider creature? Swiftly pulling out a pistol and cocking it, he leveled it right at the grate and let loose a single round, hearing a piercing shriek that was most definitely not a rat or mouse.

The grate began to dissolve away as a spiderlike corpse fell through the floor.  
Almost instantly, the soldier outside the door rushed in with his rifle out, a look of concern in his eyes.

"Major, what was that sound?" he asked, eyeing the only two others in the room with intense scrutiny.

"I want every single soldier in this building outside now! Send runners to all corners and tell them that the coms are out. Go now, time is critical! Make sure they are all carrying weapons," he ordered without answering the man's question, a cold look in his eyes that spoke of leadership. With a stiff salute, the soldier ran out the room with lightning speed.

"I apologize for not trusting you two. Let's get out of here," he spoke, keeping his gun tucked against his chest and his eyes sweeping the area in a hawk like fashion.

His peaceful office would have to wait a little longer for him to return.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *  
Earth Time: 2230

Standing outside with his brother, Charles looked nervously about him. There was him, his brother, Manuel, and twenty assembled soldiers and civilians, only ten of which were armed, one of which was Andrea who must have been waiting to hand him those reports she had. They had to leave quickly but for some odd reason, they weren't running. Why weren't they running?

"Brother, why aren't we going? We have to get to a safe location now!" Charles said, panic starting to set in.

"There were thirty personnel in that building, there is only twenty of us here. It's been a half hour now and we needed to wait for them" he spoke, using cold and calculating tones.

Looking around quickly, he pointed at several people armed with weapons and then to Manuel.

"Manuel, you take these men and retrieve our missing personnel. Meet us at the dock at seven thirty-two; if we take longer than ten minutes and If we're not there, enter the ship called the _Tiger-shark_ and prep it for launch," he said, catching everyone off guard.

"Brother, we can't send them in there! Those things will get them," Charles said frantically, scared for the life of his best friend.

"We don't have a choice. We need to go but we can't leave anyone behind. Sergeant Sierra has the most experience in dealing with these things so he will lead the rescue team," he said, explaining everything through with a sound military mind. Before he could even argue, Adam shoved the combined parts of the com from his office into his brother's arms.

"Try and fix this or at least get a channel working. We need to warn others what's going on," he said, looking to Charles with seriousness.

"But…brother…I can't…I just---" He stumbled over his words, losing confidence in himself before he was grabbed roughly by his brother and shook around.

"Lives depend on you and your mechanical knowledge! If anyone can get this thing working, it's you, so make it happen!" Adam shouted, not being too gentle about it.

For the longest moment, Charles just stood there paralyzed but then he finally snapped back into himself, looking over the parts and pulling out electrical tools to reroute and rewire the com, trying to get a signal.

"Good. Can I entrust this assignment to you, Sergeant?" Adam asked calmly, being greeted with a look of grim determination from Manuel.

"You can count on me, Major," he spoke, cocking his rifle and charging the power cells.

"Men! Let's move out!" he yelled; but before he could step three feet, Andrea stopped him, holding a tightly wrapped package in the shape of a weapon as well.

"You might need this in case those things are thick skinned," she said quickly, passing him the unknown parcel. Unwrapping, he saw a heavily modified, very illegal looking shotgun in his hands before looking back at her.

"How the hell did you get this kind of weapon on station?! I couldn't get a pocket knife through security," he said, a look of raw bewilderment on his face as he stared at the weapon.

"It helps to be marrying a Major," she said smirking, looking back to Adam.

"Thanks," he said, holstering the gun, not wanting to waste the limited ammo it possessed. He carefully proceeded into the building, leaving the small group of civilians and soldiers outside, when a small beep clicked over the com, screaming in a frantic voice.

"HELP! HELP! This is an emergency! The hospital is overrun with alien life forms!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Earth Time: 2300 hours

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Help! Repeat, this is the hospital in sector seven thirty-three; we are overrun with alien life forms!" Maya screamed into the crude radio she had constructed, praying that someone else on the station managed to create one using the same type of transmission. She was a recent arrival to the station, no more than three weeks, her eyes wide with wonder at the magnificent marvel of human technology. Now, clustered in a medical lab, tables and chairs propped against the door with the few other doctors and soldiers that made it to relative safety while they heard the screams of the dying and terror of the patients and other personnel. This was like a nightmare, too terrible to be real, but too terrifying to be imaginable by man.

Clutching at the radio and hunching over, tears of panic rolling down her face, she heard a voice on the other end of the radio she constructed, a miracle if she had ever heard one before.

"This is 2nd Lieutenant Trezice, do you read me?!" came the voice on the other end of the radio. Clutching the radio with a vice-like grip, she pulled it close to her mouth as if scared she would lose this shred of hope.

"YES! I hear you! Please, help us! We're in the hospital, south wing, in med lab five! There are three doctors and seven security personnel here. We need assistance! God, please help us!" she said, starting to break down over the radio. She was only twenty-two years old; she was too young to die in a place like this.

"Calm down, we are en route to your location. Describe the alien life forms to us. What can you tell us?" he asked hurriedly, trying to glean any information off of her to aid in their task.

"There are two types. One is an arachnid-type creature about a foot or two long with a long tail. It projects itself through the air and latches onto a person's face. The other is a large black serpentine alien about seven to nine feet in height and they have long sharp tails they use to impale with. They also have a concentrated acid for blood and---" she tried to continue when sudden pounding on the door came from outside. People were begging to be let in, screaming as suddenly they were cut down as she dropped the radio to the ground, huddling in a corner.

This was a bad dream, just a bad dream…

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Earth Time: 2315 hours

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Manuel strode carefully through the halls of the office complex, trying to listen to any sounds or see any trace of the spider creatures. The men under his command, all raw recruits barely out of training, looked completely nervous, leveling their guns in any direction, unsure what to make of the situation. Manuel had only once been in a campaign, back when putting down a social uprising, but those were armed combatants who fought openly. This was a new threat, something that lurked and remained hidden till it was too late. He had to be careful…

A sudden sound down a hallway to the left up ahead caused him to raise his hand to halt his men. The steel was cold beneath their feet in the ten by ten foot hallway; the thrumming of the exhaust fans and cooling stacks lent him the impression of a mine shaft as he walked slowly up to the corner and pushed his gun out past the hallway ever so slightly, testing to see if anything was about to attack…

…nothing.

Peering around the corner, he saw a lone man staggering to his feet, one of the spider things lying next to him, crumpled and dead. Standing on unsteady legs, he was in tears, looking around with a sense of wild desperation. Walking around the corner, Manuel rushed to his side.

"Are you alright? What's the matter?" he asked, his men following after him with the same rapid pace.

"Dead…all dead. Those things…they jumped us, attached to their faces," he said, referring to the spider creatures Manuel knew.

"Suddenly…everybody started screaming. They were in so much pain…I ran…I tried to get away, but---" he stopped when he noticed the dead spider creature that was where he had fallen over.

The man suddenly went into a full fledged panic attack. "PLEASE! You have to kill me! Kill me now!" he howled, shaking Manuel desperately.

"Hold on, what do you mean? Why do we---" he tried to ask but the man was frantic.

"Please, there's no time! You have to---" he started, when he suddenly started hacking and coughing violently before crumpling over, screaming in pain. Holding him down, Manuel tried to help restrain him to see what was causing so much pain when he saw his shirt…

Something was pushing its way out of his chest, trapped inside the fleshy prison girded with strong bones of his rib cage.

With a sudden rip of flesh and sickening crunch of breaking bones, a small gory looking snake creature with sharpened teeth burst through, a look of pure evil in its twisted features. Pointing the shotgun at the monster's body, no larger than a hand, Manuel blew the thing into pieces; a terrifying shriek of death could be heard echoing in the halls. As the thing's remains melted through the floor, it ceased to live on.

The halls were suddenly alive with cries from strange sources…potentially more of those same things.

It dawned on Manuel that whatever they were dealing with, they were not prepared for it. "Everyone, retreat. We are leaving now!" he spoke urgently, trying to lead everyone out the way they came in a hurried fashion. With a sudden flurry of movement, the floor erupted in metal shards flying askew as a long black spear projection imbedded itself deep in the lungs of the farthest behind soldier. He coughed up blood and stared down only a moment before his body was dragged with a scream underneath the floor. Everyone stared blindly for a moment before Manuel finally shouted.

"MARINES! MOVE OUT!" he bellowed, lifting the shotgun and leveling it in all directions as he took the rear and forced everyone to start running forward.

"Sergeant, what the hell was that?!" one of his men asked as they were running, the sound of the screeching monsters he couldn't see not far on their tail.

"I don't know, but we're not stopping till we're out of here!" Manuel said, pushing them forward, praying to make it out of this alive.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Earth Time: 2320 hours

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Charles was rushing to make it to the hospital as fast as he and the assembled group could go. Arriving just outside the hospital south wing, only distinguishable by a small plaque on the side of the wall, the power for the lights suddenly died around them.

Charles could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as the illumination globes, small spheres of light that were projected from the end of the pulse rifles, kicked to life. The darkness placed emphasis on how deathly silent the place now was.

"You're joking, there is no way we're going in there with the lights off. You're insane!" Andrea hissed, with much approval from the others around her. Adam ignored the woman and took one of the pulse rifles that was brought along as a spare and punched in the code to open the door.

"I want two men with me and Lieutenant Trezice. The rest of you make your way to the _Tiger Shark_," he said, picking two random men with guns; their faces suddenly paled as he chose them.

"Look, Adam, I applaud your commitment to saving these people, but we need to get the hell out of here!" she said, trying to reason with him to get him to let go of the situation.

"There are people me and my men have sworn to protect in that hospital and I won't let them die as long as there is something I can do about it," he spoke tersely, motioning for everyone to move forward. Andrea's hand grasped his sleeve, refusing to let go, crying silently.

"What about you? You're going to die in there; don't go, it's suicide," she pleaded, begging him not to throw his life away.

"I'm sorry, dear. I have to protect them, even if it costs me my life," he said, pulling free his sleeve and walking forward, giving Charles who barely could move the courage to go with him. As the doors closed behind them, he could have sworn he heard Andrea say goodbye, but now Charles had no choice but to focus on the present and keep an eye out for anything.

The walls were spattered with blood, deep crimson running to the floor in streaks; corpses littered the hallway. Large sections of the floor was melted away, evidence that the creatures that had acid for blood had met their end there. Moving forward, they walked ever so slowly, carefully, trying not to make a sound, a noise, even a whisper. All that could be heard in the poorly illuminated hallways were the footsteps of the four people walking down this deserted and horrifically gory hallway.

Charles swiveled the gun around constantly, sweat beading off his brow as they continued to walk wearily down the corridor. A loud squish sound occured as he planted his foot in a strange puddle of what felt suspiciously like goo. Lowering for a second to examine it, he felt the strangest thing, a drip of something onto his neck, like water, or mud…

…or saliva.

As the thought struck him, he jumped out of the way and aimed his gun upwards, revealing a large, serpent-like creature with a human shape and a large black tail. The tail scraped only air where he was mere seconds before, just narrowly missing him, a low hiss in its voice.

"Get away from it!" Charles screamed as he fired several shots into the creature's body, causing it to scream a horrid death cry and fall to the ground, its body and blood eating away at the floor. At the same time, from the floor beneath him, claws reached up to grab him as he barely dove out of the way. However, one soldier who suddenly began to fall through the floor was not so lucky to avoid the claws from the creature. His screams were abruptly cut short.

Adam and the remaining soldier unleashed several waves of rounds into the floor, causing more screeching and crying out in pain as the creatures beneath them died and fell away into the floor. Once again, the place was silent, empty, and alone. Yet it was constantly watched. Looking around, they saw they were just outside the room they needed to be in, medical lab five. A muffled sob could be heard from the other side, probably the woman who answered the radio call.

"Hello, is anyone in there? This is 2nd Lieutenant Trezice, we've come to help you!" he called in. The sound of moving furniture and the door being opened greeted his ears. A haggard-looking doctor of Arabic origin in his late forties greeted him with a weak smile.

"Thank you for the rescue, Lieutenant, as you can see we are in a dire situation here," he said rather calmly, showing the assembled survivors, less than a dozen left with a young Asian woman with black straight hair and dark brown eyes huddled in a corner sobbing hysterically.

"Don't worry, we will get you out of this alive," Charles stated as he walked in, not even convincing himself.

Things can't possibly get any worse at least…

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Earth Time: 2330 hours

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Stalking the halls of the abandoned station, a lone figure walked over fallen corpses and rubble. Clicking to itself quietly, this Hunter was far more advanced than anything these crude humans could compare to. He used technology that bent the light around him to his desire, masking his presence to all but the most observant. A turret plasma cannon rested on his shoulder, whizzing back and forth constantly with a mechanical whir, trying to find a target that still moved. His massive body was on the verge of pouncing at the drop of a hat, hoping to find any prey that happened to wander near him. He was not a Hunter for food, nor a Hunter for defense; he was a Hunter for sport, one among his people known as an unBlooded, one who had not slain the most basic of prey…

He was Hunting for his right to join the Blooded, those that have earned the right to be warriors and not just children amongst his society.

Walking along the hallways, he constantly surveyed the surroundings when a sudden scuttle underneath him caused him to flex his wrist, unsheathing his wrist blades and plunge them down into the floor. Pulling up, there was the corpse of the facehugger on the twin blades, the first stage to the xenomorphic creature his people brought to the station. The things must have set to work quickly to have already taken over entire sections of the station in only a few days. Soon, the food for the prey would dwindle away, till nothing remained. Nothing but prey, prey for his people to Hunt for honor…

…Prey for the_ Yautja._


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter Four**_

_Earth Time: 2345_

_Huddled in her corner, Maya could barely control her breathing, her cries and sobs coming to lips that no longer seemed to belong to her in this nightmare world. That was all this was after all, a nightmare, just a crazy dream and she will wake up any second now…_

"_Maam, please get up. We need to leave here" spoke a voice of someone she didn't recognize. Focusing her blurry vision, she made out the silhouette of a man carrying a pulse rifle. As her vision narrowed in, she made out his handsome features, his muscled body, and his sharp piercing eyes._

_Why not? If you had to dream, why not dream of a dashing prince to rescue you?_

_"Come on Maam, we need to escape here" he spoke, reaching out a hand for her to take. She gingerly took it and stood on shaking legs, barely balancing herself and trying very hard not to fall over._

"_Thank you sir" she said, barely keeping it together inside. Without waiting a moment, the entire force of the room opened the door and began rushing out in a measured but hurried pace. Her legs followed after her, only moving her forward to continue to hold the hands of the man who came to rescue her. this was like a light in darkness that seemed to ease her mind as they kept running, as words were spoken to a man that looked almost exactly like him, brothers perhaps…maybe twins…_

_Oh, she would love to have twins…_

_The thought barely crossed her mind when she felt warm blood splatter against her face as the doctor directly to her right, an old white woman was suddenly latched onto and pierced through with those same devilish tails and piercing claws. Her eyes grew wide again as the illusion of the dream suddenly shattered in the face of the overwhelming reality that these monsters were real as she screamed in absolute terror, unable to take off running in a random direction due to her knight tightly holding her hand even as he unleashed several rounds into the creature who moved out of the way and threw the corpse still attached to its tail at him to cause him to miss as it escaped out a ventilation shaft nearby._

_This was surely the work of demons since nothing god could make could be this evil…_

_*************_

_Earth Time: day 2, 0000_

_*************_

_Running as fast as they could through the halls, firing into ducts that were alive with the hissing and screeches of the monsters, Manuel pushed his men that were still alive to keep going. They were almost to the dock, and they were almost to the tiger shark, their only escape. His four remaining men were beside themselves with fear, some had the tell tale urine stains in their pants to prove it, others whispering prayers to god as they ran. This was literally the worst thing that could happen to this station, and there only escape drew closer and closer._

_From out of a darkened corner of a hallway, another spider creature leaped out, hoping to make an easy target of one frightened soldier. Luckily Manuel used his shotgun as a makeshift club and batted it hard against the wall, not even stopping as he unleashed a high powered round deep into its body. As they passed corridor after corridor, the eyes of everyone lit up as they saw they were at dock seven thirty-two, separated only by a door. Punching in the access code, the nearest soldier rushed in head first only to be grabbed by the shoulders and lifted away screaming to an unknown fate. _

_Fate wasn't kind apparently to them. Manuel saw them, openly charging in what looked to be hundreds, screeching terrible cries and even running on the ceiling and sides of the walls while inside there was several crawling all over the hull of the ship labeled "Tiger Shark", suddenly snapping to attention and charging as well._

_Only one choice…_

"_Go through the door and shoot them!! Run straight for the Ship!!!" Manuel yelled, his men and him rushing through as he hit the emergency seal on the door closing it in an instant, much to the dismay of the onrushing horde as they suddenly assaulted the door, trying to tear it to pieces. Firing wildly, the three surviving men under his command unleashed bolt after bolt of energy into the creatures with deadly effect. One got too close, its acidic blood splashing across one unlucky soul's face as he spent the next second screaming in truly horrible agony as his face melted away revealing the white of his skull. Without hesitation, Manuel aimed the shotgun at the fallen man's chest and unleashed a single round, granting him a peaceful death. As the only sound being the attack on the door which was suddenly beginning to make headway as tails pierced through the metal, Manuel jostled his two remaining men forward and to the entrance control door of the ship. Using his access code, the door opened and no sooner did it open then three large men aimed guns their way, soldiers that escaped with Charles and his brother._

"_Stand down, it's Sergeant Manuel" came Drea's familiar voice pushing to them._

"_Quickly, inside" she said, the men and Manuel not needing a second invitation to rush inside before more of those terrors show up. Closing the sliding door behind them, Manuel slumped to the floor exhausted and tired._

"_Did you see Adam or Charles? Are they ok?" she asked, confusing him tremendously._

"_What are you talking about? They were with you, weren't they?" he said, when he noticed that she was shaking with terror and tears rolling down her face._

"_I…I haven't seen them. Where did they go?" he asked, not sure what to make of this new situation, not sure he could leave this station behind without Charles, his best friend._

"_They went to a hospital to try and save some more people! They were less concerned for their own lives then they were for some random strangers!!" she screamed, falling over sobbing again. Manuel scratched his head irritated, why do women have to be so emotional?_

_"Look, I'm sure they are fine. They are probably almost here right now" he said, not even sure he was convincing himself._

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day two, 0010_

_*************_

_Running as fast as he could with the sobbing doctor attached to his hand, Charles ran toward the door that signified the entrance to dock Seven Thirty-Two. The remaining group dwindled in the run as the very walls seemed to come to life reducing their numbers from thirteen to eight, with only two doctors, four soldiers, Himself and his brother. The door to the dock was pierced through and the sound of an engine running told them the others were already there awaiting their arrival. All their hopes of escape were almost realized._

_Coming through the broken door, there were several areas of the floor missing due to the assault of the creatures and their acid blood. It looked as if a battle was fought here and aside from one single body lying on the floor face down was relatively clear of human bodies._

"_Come on, were almost through" he said, rushing to the door of the ship when claws grasped out from one of the many holes in the area latching onto the young woman's ankle he was bringing along, almost snapping her from his grip._

"_HELP ME!!!" she screamed holding onto Charles hands as if they were her only chance at life, for he had little doubt in his mind they were. It was no use Charles soon realized as the creature was too strong and was slowly pulling her in as more and more of her body was sinking out of sight. The sudden lunge of the Arabic doctor into the hole and the creatures hiss and sudden let go of the woman, followed by the doctors screams as he was dragged off saved her life, though did little for her mind as she screamed and begged for god to save them all._

_Not being able to waste any more time, he hoisted the small woman onto his shoulders and carried her to the ship, entering with the remainder of their forces and closing the hatch. The Tiger shark was a fairly large vessel, about the size of a large house with several rooms and a common area. It was more like a luxury military vessel for traveling into space to make it more comfortable and enjoyable. He had no doubt in his mind it would support the remaining survivors, at least till they could use the E-drive to escape to earth and warn them of what happened on the station._

_A large hand on his shoulder signified that Manuel had arrived on the scene, smiling warmly and openly to his best friend._

"_Glad to see you're alive. Let's get the hell out of here" he said as the vessel suddenly lifted off and the airlock opened from the remote controls to allow their exit as they floated out to the space surrounding the station._

_It was only then did they notice the network of strange buoy's that netted the entire station…_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter five**_

_Earth time: day two, 0015_

_As Adam looked at the strange network of buoys that encircled the entire station, he felt a cold chill run down his spine. Not only were these buoy's placed there without any prior knowledge of the inhabitants, they were covering the entire station. Could it be they were responsible for the communications blackout on the station? As Adam continued to ponder this, he felt the hand of his wife to be Andrea on his shoulder. Turning around, she reeled her hand back so far and slapped him hard enough to send him to the floor, leaving a very bright red mark on his cheeks._

"_I SWEAR TO GOD, YOU EVER PULL A STUNT LIKE THAT AGAIN, YOU BETTER HOPE THOSE THINGS KILL YOU BEFORE I GET AHOLD OF YOU!!!" she yelled, angry frustration plastered on her face. It was fairly common for her to have these fits, she was prone to violence and emotional outbursts, but when she bent to her knees and embraced him lovingly, he remembered she only did it because she was worried._

"_I'm sorry Andrea, I will be more careful in the future" he spoke as she finally began to settle down when the door from the main area opened to reveal Manuel walking in._

"_I miss something?" he asked noticing Adam on the floor with a bright red slap mark on his cheek and a pilot who looked more or less confused._

"_Nothing to worry about Sergeant. I take it the mission was a failure to retrieve our lost men" he asked, causing Manuel's face to pale considerably._

"_Well, we discovered where the big ones come from. Those little spider thingies latch onto a person's face, and as far as I can tell plant an egg. That egg develops and pops out the chest, giving you those big ones" he spoke, the lack of color in his face showing him he saw it first hand to have such a reaction. It was no consequence at the moment._

"_Bring lieutenant Trezice up front, I need him to run some tests on those Buoy's ahead before we pass them" he spoke, not liking the look of the strange things that floated out in space canvassing the entire station. He had ordered the ship to not pass them until they ran some tests and the only person who could have a chance to understand them would be his brother._

"_Yeah, about him…he's going to have some trouble moving for a while" he spoke, sending a cold shiver down Adam's spine._

"_Was he infected?!" his brother asked, breaking his façade for the first to show his concern for his brother._

"_Nah…it's just the female doctor he rescued isn't letting go of him, as if she let go she would be back in that horrible place" he said, scratching his head. Understandable Adam thought but he needed his brother now._

"_Tell him he needs to be up here now, he can bring the doctor with him" he spoke. With a quick informal salute, he turned around and ran back out into the ships common area for a few minutes, only to reappear with Charles and the female doctor just as he described, clinging to his arm frantically._

"_You called Major?" he asked, unable to give a proper salute with the woman clinging to his right arm. Pointing at the vid monitor, Adam pointed at the several buoys that encircled the station._

"_Can you get me an analysis of those things and find out what they are?" he asked. Charles took one of the seats in the cockpit and scanned through the controls till he found what he was looking for, a small probe control. Activating it, everyone in the cockpit watched silently as a small hover droid floated out toward the nearest buoy. Adam began to notice something instantly, the buoy was activating at the droids approach, mechanisms seeming to shift and slide into place. Before the droid even drew near the buoy, a strange wave of light smashed into the probe, destroying it instantly and reducing it to scrap._

_For the longest moment, no one said anything at what just occurred. Finally Charles spoke quietly and solemnly._

"_I would not recommend trying to leave the station"._

_*************_

_Earth time: day two, 0800_

_*************_

_Waking up slowly and groggily, Charles looked up from the mass sleeping area he was in. There were several other people sleeping in the same cramped room, but he managed to get the bed due to his rank, not the best privilege, but it helps. Still firmly attached to his arm was Captain Maya, a recent graduate of her academy with top scores and was thus "Rewarded" with this station as her first duty assignment. The poor girl has never even seen combat before, and yet she thrust right into the middle of a war zone for all intents and purposes. If he ever got off this station again, he would resign from military service for the rest of his life._

_Sliding his arm out of her grasp, he gently and silently moved away and out of the room to head to the cockpit again. Working his way to the front, his mind was assailed by countless thoughts and questions. What were those things? Where did they come from? How did they get here? They weren't intelligent enough to travel through space more than likely, so who set up the buoys? Questions like this and hundreds more whipped through his mind at break neck speed till he entered the cockpit seeing Manuel fiddling with the shotgun he was "gifted" by Andrea, cleaning it and counting up his rounds of ammunition. Looking up to him with a smile, Manuel moved over to make room for him on the floor so he wouldn't disturb the pilot who was fast asleep since the vessel was on autopilot for the moment to remain stationary._

"_I see you ditched your girlfriend. What you need up here?" he asked, joking with him as Charles pulled out the comm. and began to fidget with it trying to make it operational once again, focusing on the one channel that seemed to work for some strange reason._

"_Just wanted to work on this, see if I can get it working, maybe plug it into the ships communications relay" he spoke pulling out the electrical tools he pilfered from the bay, wishing he had more time to grab some better things while he was at it. A couple sparks flew from wires he rerouted and soldering of the terminal board while Manuel looked at it with a sense of boredom._

"_So…what do we do now? We can't leave the station, we can't send out a distress call, and the soonest a recovery team will be out here is one year of inactivity. We don't have enough supplies on this ship to last us all a year, so what do we do?" he asked, answering his own question with his logic._

"_Well, I think it's pretty obvious we have to go back in there and try and carve out a safe nitch, you know?" he said, content with the repairs and modifications he worked into the Comm. plugging it into the communication relay of the ship, he started running scans on the station, trying to see if anyone else was alive on the floating deathtrap now. The station responded back with silence, and continued that way for several minutes, until a static voice came over the relay._

"_This is docking bay Echo four twenty-one; this is Docking bay Echo four twenty-one. Is there any other survivors? Our situation is stable, but we need support. Please, is there anyone out there?" the voice spoke. Charles smiled to Manuel and the pilot instantly jerked awake at hearing the static voice._

"_Wake the Major; we might have a place to dock"._

_*************_

_Earth Time: day two, 0830_

_*************_

_This was peculiar…_

_The Yautja were hunters, and never had they encountered something quite as unique as the prey known as "Humans". They were survivors, they thrived in conditions that should allow for no hope with their limited range of capabilities, and yet here they were with several pockets of resistance to the prey that they unleashed upon their artificial world. One such group even managed to take to a star ship and not try to pass the blackout grid, as if their animal instincts warned them of the danger of the laser network. Even more amazing, they locked onto the one signal they left not blacked out from communications and are using it as an effective means of locating other survivors. Should they survive, maybe the food for the prey could prove more worthy to hunt then the prey itself, but that wasn't important at the moment._

_With one massive clawed finger, the hunter typed in on his vessel floating in space in its cloaked form to allow him passage through the blackout grid. His kills were told to be unimportant and worthless, a thought that angered him since he put so much effort into preserving the skulls of the two preys he slew with his wrist blades in honorable combat. They told him not to return and try to claim himself as a warrior till he slew at least ten in one trip. He was the runt of his team after all, they weren't being unfair and that he knew. They needed a team member who would be an asset on a hunt, even if sending him in alone was almost suicide. _

_Oh well, he thought. At least he would die with honor for his clan…_

_*************_

_Earth Time: day two, 0900_

_*************_

_As the pilot redirected the ship to the Majors specifications, Andrea walked into the room with a slow and weary gait. She knew how to fight, her family paid well for her to not only be trained in self protection but they also endowed her with several combat implants so she could handle herself in case of dire emergencies like kidnappings, take-over's, hostage situations and the like. It was those same implants that kept her from joining a military service since they were deemed "not usable" for military service, but she thought that the slightly increased hormone level was well worth the strength and agility of ten men._

"_What's going on?" she asked entering the room with her usual grace and elegance. The pilot in the room looked for a brief moment but turned around quickly when he saw she was still in a skimpy night gown, blushing a deep crimson to himself. She couldn't help but smile to herself, she could at least make one head turn._

"_We found a large outcropping of survivors. The captain in charge there has several engineers who managed to jury-rig a sort of field grid to ward off the monsters, though there are several glitches from time to time. We are going to land and try and assist so we can at least have somewhere we can settle down till this situation is resolved" Adam spoke, causing her to blink in astonishment._

"_Tell me you're joking. We are not landing on that screaming metal deathtrap again, are we?" she said, more than willing to take her chance out here in space then on that station again._

"_We won't last longer than two weeks out here with our current rations and supplies. That may suffice if the E-drive would work, but until we could at least disable the buoy network out there, I won't risk your life and the lives of the people on board on such a risky venture. We need to land for supplies and this is as safe as it's going to get" he said as the voice on the radio blared to life._

"_We have you on our short range scanners Tiger Shark. We have the Docking bay door ready to open for you as soon as you are able" the man on the radio spoke._

"_Roger, this is the Tiger Shark, we see your destination and we are coming in" the pilot spoke as the bay door that opened into the vacuum of space became visible. The bay doors worked in series of two, with an inner and outer door. If the outer door opened, the inner one had to be closed so as not to have the void of space suck out the contents of the bay. It was an ingenious system Andrea had to admit, though a bit simplistic. _

_As they flew in, the door immediately began to close once they set down. After several minutes, the inner door opened to reveal what looked like a massive refugee camp, make shift tents everywhere and soldiers milling about. There were at best maybe a hundred or two hundred people dispersed throughout the dock, though it did seem safe enough. A small entourage of heavily armed guards following a single man in his late thirties came to the ship, awaiting for them to exit. Adam walked out of the cockpit, Andrea not far behind along with his brother Charles as they exited the craft to meet the small armed group. With a salute, the leader of this band of survivors spoke with clear authority._

"_Major, I am Captain Clayborne of the armed forces in this sector. Please tell me you have some good news" he spoke, and almost all of the nearby refugees watched with hope in their eyes, many staring at the ship now seen as their means of escape._

"_Captain, I hope you like surprises" was all the Major needed to say to let the refugees know they weren't escaping this nightmare just yet._

_Andrea honestly wondered if they would ever escape this nightmare… _


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter Six**_

_Earth time: day two, 1200_

_Maya was happy again. After waking up and starting to scream frantically after not having her knight right there beside her, she was reunited fairly quickly. She was instantly taken to him and after quickly latching on; she clung to him so hard she left deep marks to let her know to soften up her death like grip. _

"_Now with that situation solved, back to the business at hand…" the commanding officer of the bay they were stuck in spoke, a clear sense of distaste in his voice. _

"_The situation is as follows, we have one hundred and fifteen personnel in this bay and enough supplies to last us three standard earth months. Our military supplies are low, and so are the other types of supply" he spoke, reading off the report quite rapidly. He must have been security forces the way he spoke, everything seemed only to be a number to him and filled with potential threats. It was a good outlook to have right now, but Maya seemed a little ill at ease toward the man for some reason._

"_How many civilian personnel? How many of your men can use a gun?" Major Trezice asked him, the twin to Charles Trezice, her knight. _

"_We have thirteen personnel from engineering fields, seventy three from security fields, fourteen from computer skill fields, and eight from medical fields, though we have no doctors" he spoke, reading the number of men statistically. Manuel was the first to speak up from hearing this._

"_Wait wait wait… you have Seventy Three security personnel?? How did you all manage to get here and stay alive? We barely survived and we escaped to a star ship" Manuel asked, drawing a look of disdain from the captain._

"_You forget your rank, Sergeant. Hold you're discipline" he scolded. Manuel looked as if he were about to come to blows with the captain but Major Trezice held up his hand to stop him._

"_That is uncalled for Captain, though he does make a good point. Also, I don't understand out of so many people you only have seven non military personnel with you. Explain your situation to me in detail if you would" he asked, his hawk like eyes piercing him like talons._

"_Our men were in the Security personnel building when we noticed the attack of these life-forms start to come in mass. We tried to sound an alarm and send out a message, but the comm. system was down. We gathered everyone in the bay and sent out rescue parties to retrieve certain personnel in certain sectors. We have not been able to rescue more than seven civilians due to the high risk out there, and the distress calls we received didn't have enough military personnel to risk sending our men to retrieve" he spoke emotionlessly._

"_You mean to tell me you let people we swore to protect die?!" Manuel yelled anger deep in his face. The opposing captain looked at him with deep displeasure in his eyes._

"_Talk out of turn again and you will be disrespecting an officer. I hope you know in times of war that is punishable by death" he threatened, resting his hands on a small pistol in his holster. Before Manuel could even open his mouth, Major Trezice spoke again._

"_Sir, he is right though. You are security personnel, and you are sworn to protect those same calls you ignored. That will change if more distress calls are received, I can assure you of that" Major Trezice spoke in a voice that sent shivers down Maya's spine._

"_Very well Major, I will follow your orders. Moving along, we have established a crude shield network that has allowed us to have a certain measure of safety here. There were some holes in the network where we lost several good men from to the enemy, but we have since made repairs to the network. Our biggest concern at the moment is we need a more stable power source. We are currently running on an old ship battery and will not last more than three standard earth days. That is the end of the report Major" he finished. Hesitantly Major Trezice spoke to him once more._

"_I am relieving you of command of this sector. Are you going to fight that order?" Major Trezice asked. The captain spoke with the same emotionless tone as he did every time before that._

"_You are a higher rank. You are entitled to lead these men. I obey your orders Major" he said, making no attempts to fight him on the issue._

"_Good. Now, do you have any grids of the sector that Lieutenant Trezice may examine to try and locate a new power source?" he questioned him. _

"_Our maintenance representative will be more than willing to assist you in pulling up the grids. Am I to assume that this briefing is over?" he asked. _

"_One more thing. We have a doctor amongst our men. Have your medical personnel show her what she needs to take care of and to assist the wounded according to Triage. That is all, dismissed" he spoke, the words suddenly hitting her._

_She couldn't leave Charles side, she needed him, he needed to be with her. She wouldn't let go of him for nothing in the world. He looked to her and spoke softly in calm soothing words._

"_Maya, please help those that are wounded. I will be by to stay with you once I'm done ensuring this place is safe for us, ok?" he spoke. Nodding her head, unable to tell him no, she reluctantly released her hold of his arm to allow him to leave to accomplish his work. Looking at him with worry in her eyes, she had to voice something to him to let him know she would be waiting._

"_Charles, I love you. Please come back quickly" she said, him smiling back reluctantly._

"_I know. Please be safe" he said, walking off in the direction he was being led to take care of his duties. She had to finish her work quickly so she could be with him as soon as she could. _

_She wouldn't live without him…_

_*************_

_Earth Time: day three, 0800_

_*************_

_"I'm telling you Manuel, she's driving me crazy! She won't eat, won't sleep, she won't do anything without me there" Charles spoke as he was left to scanning the grids, compressed blueprints of the stations with descriptions of the functions being carried on within._

"_Well, think about man, she's a young woman who just watched as people were massacred around her. You come right along and rescue her, she feels safe around you, what do you expect her to do?" he said, sitting in the chair next to him bored. Charles was happy to have something to do, preferring to keep his mind occupied and not thinking about any of the problems happening all around him. It was true they at least had rations, but they had little else. There were no books, there were no razors, all the commodities he took for granted before were now being sorely missed._

_Power was rationed out since they were working on a limited supply, and if they didn't find a new source soon, they would need to use the ships battery power, which would buy them another week at best. There was more power in the supply than what Charles had thought, the engineers and mechanics just were wasting it needlessly by draining more than required, extraneous functions, so what was once only three days worth of power turned out to be a full week. Charles really didn't like all the maintenance personnel following his orders, he was used to doing them, but they needed his expertise, and he had to give it to them._

_As he scrolled over several bays, he stopped at one that was labeled top secret. Punching in his clearance to view, his eyes widen with shock but relief as he began to smile._

"_Well, I think we might have something we can work with here. Could you fetch my brother?" he asked, causing Manuel to stand up and head off for a few minutes. With this free time, Charles read more into the descriptor of the project with the classified information file. It was experimental power supply generator within less than a football field away from their present location. It harnessed power from solar cells they could easily attach to the outside of the station, but the cells drew more than a thousand times more power than the standard cells. They were meant to be used on stations where no sun was present, only the light from the stars. This was just one of those systems, and it was a constantly renewable source, and would allow them to run their shield grid indefinitely and not worry about any blackouts due to loss of power. They could also hook it up to the old battery they were using and to their ammo clips to regenerate lost power._

_And to think it was so close and waiting to be used…_

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day four, 1800_

_*************_

_Manuel had finished suiting up for the mission, armored and set up with his pulse rifle and team. His men included several trained guerilla scouts, a total of six in all, two maintenance personnel to assist in securing the generator and power collectors, and Charles. Each was suited up in the field armor, ready to take on the horrors of the station in order to secure their ability to survive. Manuel tapped Charles shoulder with the butt of the rifle he was using to get him to turn around._

"_You sure you want in on this mission? It could be the last thing you ever do" Manuel asked, causing his friend to smile widely._

"_That doesn't sound too bad. If it keeps that nutjob doctor off of me for a while, I'd gladly risk death any day" he said, laughing along with Manuel as they finished equipping themselves and walked up to the edge of the shield network. It was like a shimmering barrier that prevented all entrance and exit from every exit and entrance, from something as small as a ventilation duct to as large as a door frame. Everyone in the team looked grim, determined, and ready to handle the situation as the field dropped from their exit to allow them to pass._

"_Everyone, let's go out there and kick some ass" he spoke, turning on his power to his gun and walking out, the first to venture into the station since their arrival at the Echo dock four twenty-one. He hoped it wouldn't be his last time._


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter Seven**_

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day four, 1810_

_*************_

_With a slow and careful walk, Manuel began to lead his team slowly through the hallway. The once cold metal walls that were just lonely before were now eerie and dangerous. Even the smallest sound set off the finely tuned senses he possessed, alerting him to the dangers of the station. Each footstep that fell sounded to him like a thunderclap, his pounding heart beating so fast that he was sure that even the dead could hear it thumping in his chest. Brandishing his rifle, he gently and quietly swept through corners as if in anticipation of threats to come, the sweat falling from his brow in steady currents._

_A low click sounded in his ear as the ear piece to his radio set off to ask if he could take the message. Tapping the button to clear it through, he heard the voice of Major Trezice, trying to make as little sound as possible._

"_You're camera is functioning and the ear piece is working, if a little static filled. What's the status of the mission?" He spoke soft as a whisper but seemed as loud as a shout._

"_We are currently fifty feet out of the main chamber and proceeding with caution. No hostiles engaged, no causalities discovered" Manuel spoke into the receiver near his mouth. _

"_Good. Keep me posted as you go, I'll be watching through the camera" He spoke before the earpiece cut out. _

_Manuel continued to make slow and steady progress, ears straining for any sign of anything, a hiss, a scrape, even a muted scream. He was prepared for anything…_

_He hoped he was prepared for anything._

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day Four, 1820_

_*************_

_Maya watched the view screen with impatience , paying special attention to Charles one. She looked out to see everything he saw, hoping that he thought of her and how much she meant to him, like how she thought only of him and for his safety. His brother sat quietly reviewing every screen with sweeping eyes. Normally she would never have been allowed in this room. Captain Clayborne made sure she absolutely knew this as he sat on the other side of her with his hands ready to grasp hers should she do anything to touch the microphone to talk to Charles, a thought that crossed her mind. Only with Major Trezice's insistence that her mental state depended on seeing that he was safe and sound was she allowed to stay there and watch as they walked through the corridors trying to locate what they were searching for._

_She saw the corridors were clean and sterile, as if the Alien life forms had yet to touch them with their twisted claws and deadly grace. She couldn't help but think that for even a split second that the mission would be uneventful for them, that they would come back safe and alive. She looked at Adam briefly to catch him looking at her for the briefest of seconds before looking back to the screens. His eyes were dissecting her, studying her, and she felt vulnerable. She hated that look, it reminded her of a cat about to pounce on a mouse, a bear catching a salmon in its jaws, a hawk descending on a rabbit._

_She didn't want to be this hawk's next meal. She inwardly cringed and begged inside herself that Charles would make it back safely._

"_Captain Kuro, have you never seen a military operation before?" Captain Clayborne asked. She never enjoyed being called by her rank, but she hesitantly shook her head no. His calm emotionless eyes looked to her and if they weren't comforting, were at least showing concern. He wasn't an attractive man, his head was shaved and he bore many scars along his arms, scars that she thought might stretch over his entire body. He was muscular and strong, yet looked limber and agile. He wore the mantle of leadership well, but it seemed anything short of a military operation he was ill suited for._

"_They are going in a slow formation, two men to each side and the rear with Sergeant Manuel as the point. They are keeping the technicians safe and secure inside the huddle so they will remain unharmed. Lieutenant Trezice is in the safest place he could be in that formation, so stop worrying" he spoke calmly. She nodded, her voice not seeming to manifest without Charles near her. _

_She couldn't stand to think about anything else. No matter what happened, she needed to be with Charles always. She would take care of him, in every way she could. Even if he wanted to have her body, that which she saved herself for marriage, she would gladly give him to make him happy and safe. He was her everything._

_Within that same thought, Adam pressed the button to page one of the recon team. A voice rose from the static that set her mind filled with joy as Charles voice blazed to life._

"_This is Charles, go ahead" he spoke through the static. Grabbing the Microphone, Adam began to speak assertively._

"_The room you just looked at. I need you to go investigate it. The door is open slightly" he spoke as the camera swiveled over it as indeed the blast door was open from the bottom a crack._

"_What's so weird about that?" he asked. Speaking into the microphone again, Adam continued to speak._

"_Blast doors are never slightly open unless someone forced them open" he spoke. As Charles directed the team to the door, they punched in the code to open the door all the way. _

_The sight of hanging corpses, those both Alien and Human, strung up from the ceiling with the skin peeled off some and skulls tore free from others, assaulted everyone's eyes._

_*************_

_Earth time: Day Four, 1830_

_*************_

_Charles felt like he was going to be sick as he looked at the sight of the men and beasts all strung up and skinned, the stench of blood permeating the room and the sight of the fearsome monsters in the same fashion so brutalized left his stomach weak._

"_Manuel, what the hell is this?" Charles asked in a hushed voice as Manuel made a cross motion on his forehead._

"_Diablo, nothing else could do this shit" he spoke, reverence and fear evident in his eyes._

"_What on earth is a Diablo?" Charles asked as he looked at each body with care. He noticed that before the skin was flayed, their weapons and armaments were all thrown to the side in a pile of refuse, valuable equipment discarded in this grim harvest._

"_Not earth my friend, down below. This is stuff from hell, and Diablo's the big man in charge there" he spoke issuing the soldiers to grab the equipment so they could leave and hopefully at least ID the corpses from their dog tags._

"_You expect me to believe the devil did this?" Charles asked, never one to believe in anything he couldn't see._

"_You got a better explanation?" Manuel asked, causing Charles to seriously think about it for a second before shrugging his shoulders and conceding the point. When the troops holstered what weapons they found and stowed any spare gear they had, they began to exit the room when Manuel suddenly turned around, leveling his gun back into the room in fear._

"_What's wrong?" Charles asked nervously. Looking back into the room, Charles saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing…_

_Yet he could feel he was being watched._

"_I thought I heard something. Guess I'm just being jumpy" he spoke and then continued to leave, closing the door behind them as they left._

_If it was just him being jumpy, how come Charles felt like he was being watched too?_

_*************_

_Earth time: Day Four, 1835_

_*************_

_The hunter was pleased with himself. The humans never knew he was in the same room, and even when he stumbled for a second, he didn't give himself away. He even liked the name the one alpha male called him, Diablo. It sounded right to him and he decided that it would make an honorable title for himself. He looked about the room at the ten grisly trophies he collected, sure this would be enough to appease his teammates. The scars from the battle and the blood of the fallen lingered over his body as he prepared for his retreat from the hunting grounds. _

_Using his wrist computer to signal the ship, he proceeded to exit back the way he came, stalking ever so quietly in this jungle of steel in the depths of space. Even the prey barely seemed to touch this place, though he knew that would not last for long. This small pouring of resistance from the prey's food will soon be crushed as their barrier fails and they will soon be overwhelmed. It was inevitable._

_The hunt must always go on after all…_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter Eight**_

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day Four, 1840_

_*************_

_Manuel hugged the wall tightly with his body, proceeding cautiously through the halls with feline grace. The sight from the previous room set his entire body ablaze with emotion, ranging from confusion to rage. What are they facing? Why would the monsters flay their own kind? Are there other things on this station other than the serpent beasts? What stuck in his mind though, did he really imagine that sound before?_

_The click from his ear piece sounded as he examined the hallway looking for any signs of incoming Aliens. _

"_This is Sergeant Sierra, go ahead" he spoke, trying to keep his voice to a low whisper._

"_You are thirty feet from the target, make a left ahead and it's the door labeled Top Secret Clearance, or T.S.C. The code is six-six-six" he told Manuel, thinking after what he just saw was a cruel irony. _

_The halls were dead silent, nothing stirred here. It was strange the infestation didn't seem to attack these halls, it was frightening to him, and it felt like he was being toyed with more than anything else. He promised to himself that whatever was orchestrating this little blood bath would get what they deserved a hundred fold. They silently approached the door and Manuel breathed a sigh a relief. They were halfway through their first trial and it was only a matter of time at this point. Punching in the code Major Trezice gave him, he watched as the door silently slid open._

_No sooner did the door open then one of the spiders lunged forward from a table inside the room._

_Within the span of a second, Manuel thrust the barrel of his pulse rifle over his face blocking the imminent attack. As it hit the barrel, he swung it around and threw it into the wall before letting off a round to end the things life. He was safe for the moment. Turning around though, he noticed something terrifying…_

_There were what looked to be over a hundred leathery pods about the size of footballs inside the room, pods that looked about the right size to contain the spider creatures. At the far side of the room, in a clear view containment room with a security encrypted door was the power cells they required. Unfortunately, over half of the pods began to open slowly like a lotus flower. _

_*************_

_Earth time: Day Four, 1845_

_*************_

_"CHARLES!! Open the container and grab the power Cells!!" Manuel yelled, opening fire into the room as what looked to be suddenly hell breaking loose as dozens of the spider monsters began lunging forward. Charles felt as if the world were flying past him in slow motion as he ran forward, watching with strangely distant eyes as he saw the spider creatures leapt out of seemingly every crevice they could possibly come from, latching onto whoever they could. Already two of the soldiers fell, grasping at their faces as they tried to take in air that seemed to not be reachable as the tails try to strangle them. The other technicians he was with panicked and broke away from the group as he attempted his forward run through the room, kicking over the pods, forcing some to even open slowly. It was a strange nightmare he was living._

_Running forward through the room, he reached the other end where he began to desperately punch in his security clearance to open the locked container. He could see the power cells, could practically reach out and grasp them were it not for the door that now stood in his way. As he finished inputting the security clearance, he heard the sound of gun fire exploding above his head; though to him it felt like it was coming from across a great distance. Water suddenly began spraying down on top of him as he began to open the door. They must have accidentally hit a water pipe he thought, almost comical that the cold water now completely saturating him now washed away the scent of his sweat. Going inside, he looked out to see that the situation was not nearly as bad as it seemed. Already most of the pods were destroyed and mangled beyond recognition, and the two soldiers who were fallen earlier had the spiders pulled from their faces off, though the two technicians were now face first on the ground, incredibly lucky that not even a single part of their bodies was even remotely covered in the acidic blood._

_Charles turned back to begin lifting the power cells and gently packing them in the case he was entrusted with to carry. If these were destroyed, not only would they be killed, he knew they would soon be the next round of practice for any other survivors on the station as the serpents tore bloody holes out of their chests. So many lives depended on him getting the cells safely packed away. He was too rushed, too hurried, too distracted to look to the side of the room, with its lone pod already opened and contents emptied._

_With a careful and steady hand, he placed the last component in the briefcase and slung it back over his back as he smiled to himself in contentment. Now they could escape, return to living and be safe till the next transport arrived._

"_Manuel! I got the-"he began to shout turning around…_

_Unfortunately, a spider was less than two inches from his face in its leap, too close to bat away or protect him from._

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day four, 1846_

_*************_

_Manuel watched in silent horror as Charles stowed the last part, as the spider in the room with him crept up and pounced, just in time to wrap around his face. A surge of anger washed over his senses as he suddenly roared with fury, charging the open door. As several of the surviving Spiders launched at him, he didn't bother with batting them away, instead unleashing volley after volley of bolts into the creatures. The acidic blood splashed over his armor, instantly starting to eat away at it even as he tore the chest piece off from his body as he continued forward with his rush. _

_Reaching the door, he swung it open and saw Charles lying face down on the ground, the Spider still attached to his faces unconscious form. Even as he had fallen, he made sure to have the case protected so as not to destroy their only chance at survival. Manuel had to save him._

_Reacting more than understanding, He ducked away, just in time as several other of the spiders hit the wall with the same force from behind him as they expected to clamp onto the back of his head and more than likely work their bodies around to include him in the process. Anger still seething in his blood, he shot several rounds into them, destroying them and the wall panel. Several exposed wires shot out, electrical power rushing through them and dangling freely…._

_Right onto the base of Charles neck._

_Instantly the spider attached to his body screeched, releasing his face only in the throes of its death, a scorched underbelly as if the electricity shot all through him directly into the spider. It was then Manuel recognized that Charles was soaking wet, unconscious, and after quickly checking his veins, a very weak pulse. He was alive, though fading fast._

_Wasting no time, he hoisted him over his shoulders, case and all, and burst from the room in a flurry of movement._

"_Everyone!! Grab our downed men and pull out!!" he bellowed, the soldiers nodding as they grabbed the two downed technicians and ran as fast as they could through the empty halls, none of the spiders giving chase._

_Manuel promised to every power he could think of that he would pay the ones responsible for this a thousand fold back if he lost his friend._

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day four, 1905_

_*************_

_Major Trezice was waiting at the entrance field with a team of armed escorts as Manuel and his team burst around the corner, carrying their fallen comrades, the solar power cells, but most importantly to him, his brother. Clayborne and Maya were there as well, but Adam didn't care about either of their presences, only that they don't get in his way. As they reached the field, they instantly made the hole to allow the team to enter quickly before reclosing up the grid, almost fearful that they would be pursued by the spiders or even worse, the serpents. _

_Instantly, Manuel held Charles and began to slap his cheeks lightly, fear in his eyes._

"_Come on god damn it, wake up already!! This isn't fucking funny man! Wake up!!" he spoke in worried and terror filled voice. Maya was right up next to him, trying to reach out as tears trailed down her face._

"_Let me check his pulse! I can-"she tried to speak when Manuel pushed her away hard, sending her to the ground._

"_Stay the hell away from him you psychotic bitch! I don't need to hear you whine right now!!" he yelled, irrationality ruling his mind._

"_Manuel! Calm yourself down right now! Let Captain Kuro take her to the medical room so he can be treated. She's the only doctor amongst our staff and if anyone can help him, it's her" Adam spoke calmly and assertively. Frankly, he was worried about the good doctor's behavior himself, but if anyone had a chance to save him, it was her. Manuel visibly calmed down before running to the med room with the entire assembled entourage following. _

_Within less than a minute, they made it to the impromptu med lab. A bare minimum supply of medical supplies were there, all that was managed to be saved, but it was better then what other survivors at this moment no doubt possessed. Lying Charles down on the main table after removing his precious cargo, Maya instantly tore open his armor and removed the wet clothing off of his torso before applying a stethoscope to his chest. Pulling away, almost uncertain what she heard, she reapplied it again, listening carefully and intuitively. It was such a relief to Adam to see she wasn't just a pretty face, but also a doctor in full rights, and a genius one according to the records he managed to pull up from her file. Too bad her reward for such fine academics was this hell hole. _

_Pulling away again, tears renewed their streams down her face even worse than before, giving Adam a terrible sense of dread as he began to already suspect her diagnose._

"_He….He has a second heartbeat. I think he has…one of those things inside him!" she said, falling to her knees, clutching at her face before sobbing again. Manuel's veneer of self control and composure broke apart at hearing this._

"_HOW COULD THAT HAVE HAPPENED?! IT WAS ON HIM FOR LESS THEN TWENTY SECONDS!!" he yelled, causing her to crumble and wilt even further. Adam held up his hand to hold him off, much the way a human would control a dog._

"_Enough Sergeant Sierra. Yelling at her won't change the fact he's become impregnated by the spider Alien. I need you to find me a liquid container, the other medical personnel, and get this room prepped for surgery now if we are to remove that creature from his chest" he spoke calmly, causing Maya to look up terrified._

"_But I can't perform surgery!! I don't know what that will do to him?! I could accidentally kill him!" she spoke in a very crazed sobbing voice before Major Trezice lifted her from the ground to be eye level with him._

"_Captain Kuro, as your superior officer, I am giving you a direct order to do everything in your power to save __Lieutenant Trezice's life. If you fail in this, I will not hold it against you, but will expect you to learn from this to at least save the two other technicians who are as we speak being similarly impregnated. You will attempt this procedure or he will die, and I will charge you with killing an officer, and I will discipline you to the fullest extent of my rank! Do I make myself clear captain?!" he spoke to her, voice raised for the first time since even he couldn't remember. Looking into his eyes, he thought he saw the light of reason cross her vision as she nodded her head shakily. _

_Dropping her, he turned back onto Manuel, just as stunned at the sudden display._

"_What are you waiting for Sergeant?! Do as I ordered!" he commanded. Rendering a salute, Manuel took off running to gather what was requested. This wasn't the time to be weak and fall apart, this was the time to be a leader._

_He wouldn't let his brother die, he refused to let him die without the devil himself to claim him. _


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter Nine**_

_*************_

_Earth time: Day four, 2000_

_*************_

_Maya was in the cleanest outfit the bay could muster, along with the other medical personnel that were suited to be within the surgical room, only three out of the eight. She was nervous, confused, and above all else, terrified that she might accidentally be the cause of her knights fall. All she could do was to use her knowledge for the attempt at saving his life._

"_Nurse, hand me a surgical laser tool" she spoke quietly, almost too low to be heard. The nearest nurse replied without hesitation, with practiced hands passing the small tool that projected an almost heatless energy beam that could be as fine as a centimeter to as big as several inches. Taking a deep breath, she looked down at the sedated patient, Charles Trezice. Without his shirt, he looked to be in extremely good physical shape, but had several large and quite nasty scars all over his upper torso. She ran her hands lovingly over his body, feeling every stitch of muscle and tear in skin that defined him to be who he was. She didn't want to lose him, not when there was so much left for them to share together._

"_I'm beginning to start the incision over the chest cavity. Have the gel container nearby" she spoke as two of the nurses moved over to grab the make shift plastic container they found to hold the specimen they will pull out. With a careful and slow determination, she began to work. She made at first a small cut in the skin to mark where she needed to cut deeper, worried she might be hurting him even though she knew logically there was no way he could have felt that pain. Slowly turning a dial on the tool, the beam extended and she cut in deeper. She gingerly used her hands to pull back the skin to reveal his still living muscles and beating heart. The sight of it was far worse than anything she could have anticipated. Looking into the exposed chest of a cadaver was one thing, while looking into that of someone she knew and loved was totally different. _

_And then she saw it. Nestled comfortably between his lungs and protected by the sternum was the creature that would be born in a violent explosion of blood and gore. It twitched ever so slightly as the cold air reached it, something it wasn't quite ready for, though from the reports she reviewed, it was almost the right size to emerge. What she did notice was that it was a strange coloration, a rather blood red shelled one, probably what they looked like before emerging and being completely covered in oxygen. It was too large to pull out from between his ribcage, so she had no choice, she was going to have to cut through some ribs to get to it. _

"_I need to use the Surgical laser tool to cut free two ribs and pull the parasite out" she spoke quietly._

_Using the small laser tool, she gently cut free two of the closest ribs to the creature, a hand carefully holding each one as it was released from the cage. As the first one fell into her hand, she gently handed it to one of the nearby nurses who took it over to have it set down and decontaminated before reattaching it when the time was right. As the second one fell into her hand and the process repeated, she found she could fit a hand through the hole to grab it and pull it out, a thought she was having a nerve wracking time with. This was the moment of truth, to determine if she was going to kill him or not._

"_I'm about to reach into the hole and pull out the parasite. Have the container ready" she said before with a practiced and calm hand, snaked her hand in and gingerly worked her way through to the little demon nestled in her angel. Her hand was mere inches from it and she had to stop herself from shaking, lest she damage Charles body, but then gently and patiently grabbed it by the body._

_It didn't even twitch._

_Sliding it out through the hole made in the chest, she gently eased it into the container set aside for it and gently set it down. No sooner did this happen when the strange thing began to move. She quickly withdrew her hand as the container was sealed, the clear plastic giving a view as the thing began to get up from its limp position. It stood on two legs, much similar to that of a human, stared around and stared directly at her for the briefest of moments before hissing at her. It almost caused her lose her composure at the sight, but then it did the oddest thing._

_What looked like sniffing, it turned to look at Charles body and the hissing faintly stopped as it stared at his body with an almost curious fashion. It was studying them, it was intelligent._

_It was dangerous._

"_Take this parasite to Major Trezice and bring in the other two patients as soon as we reattach __Lieutenant Trezice's ribs__. We will remove their parasites as well once the spiders have been rendered deceased" she spoke, thanking god it was all over. The surgery was done and successful. She knew she could perform it on the others._

_But she hated watching the small creature in the container stare at Charles all the while it was being taken away. It made her uneasy, what could it possibly be thinking?_

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day Five, 0010_

_*************_

_Andrea looked at Charles resting comfortably from the observation area on the ship they adapted to be their quarters. All the officers and patients were taken here to recover, and Andrea enjoyed watching over his sleeping form. He was a good kid and she heard from Manuel that even when he was falling unconscious, he ensured the package wouldn't be damaged when he fell on his face. As far as she was concerned that made him a hero. From the observation room, she saw that Manuel took a post next to his sleeping form, watching over him as he slept. The drugs he was administered stabilized his condition but it still made him sleep and would probably remain that way for a day or two. It was alright though, the Solar cells were being installed already and soon they wouldn't have to worry about time._

_Well, except of course for food and water._

_The door slid open as Captain Kuro, or Maya as she preferred to be called walked in to the room. Her hands were clean and she was in civilian clothes, obviously she had finished with the last of her surgical removals. Andrea didn't really like how clingy she was to Charles, but she would at least not interfere with it now since she saved his life. He owed her that much._

"_Don't worry, your boy-toy is safe and sound. He's sleeping like a baby and has Manuel watching over him, so he's probably the safest person on the whole station right now" she spoke, causing Maya to blink in confusion._

"_What?? Charles isn't a boy toy to me, I love him. I just wanted to check on him is all" she spoke softly._

_Andrea chuckled lightly. This girl was too young to be using the word love._

"_Tell me then doc, how old is he? What's his favorite color? How many brothers and kids does he have?" she asked her, causing her to lock up, instantly showing she didn't know the answers._

"_The correct answers are, in this order, twenty three, his eye color hazel, and he has two brothers and one kid, though the kid is his brothers so he kind of helps him take care of it when they are around. So, I repeat myself, your boy toy" she spoke, smiling at her sudden slump._

"_You…you don't love him, do you?" she asked timidly. Andrea couldn't help but laugh at the insanity of the question, and once she settled down, she gave her a warm smile._

"_Of course I don't. He's cute, but I like handsome men, like his brother Adam. Charles is too rough and tumble for my tastes" she spoke, petting the girls head lightly._

"_But…how do you know so much about him?" she asked, looking up at her with inquisitive eyes._

"_Would you like to listen to a story then? I normally charge for babysitting you know" she spoke jokingly, inviting her to sit next to her._

"_Charles and Adam may be twin brothers, but they couldn't be farther apart. You see, the mother was a rough and tumble type of woman like Charles is, and the father was very elegant, sophisticated, and refined, just like Adam. They couldn't stand to be with each other, they were too opposite, so they agreed to split it up and each one would take one child to be fair. Adam went with his father, and Charles with his mother. You following me?" she asked, making sure her listener was still paying attention. Once she nodded, Andrea continued._

"_Well, it's happened around the time of Charles thirteenth birthday, his mother died in a bar fight. She was shot and stabbed with a broken bottle. Kind of sad, really. She was in the hospital and could have actually been saved had she had the money, but she was really poor, refusing to accept help from her old lover. She was extremely proud you know. She told Charles he had a twin brother, and if he ever wanted to, he could live with them. Old Charles though told her that if they wouldn't help them now, he would never rely on them as long as he lived. That foolish mother just looked at him and said how proud she was and promptly died right there with a big old grin on her face. Kind of stupid don't you think?" she said. Maya seemed to actually look impressed at this._

"_Well, at this point, Charles moved in with his best friend, Manuel Sierra. He lived alone with his mother so it was just the two of them, going to school together, skipping it together, getting into all sorts of mischief and mayhem together. Manuel even got a girl pregnant and Charles and him worked two separate jobs along with school to afford a nice wedding and a wedding ring for him. They are as thick as blood, those two" she spoke, smiling to herself at the pleasant memories._

"_As for Adam, he grew up a lonely life. Me and him met when we were six years old and told we would be married when we were older. Don't get me wrong now, I love Adam to death, or I want to be his death when he scares me half the time with his boneheaded stunts, but I'm not too thrilled with the idea of sleeping with him and ruining our great friendship, you know? I mean, the closest we ever been with each other is when we were kids and he wanted to see what the difference between girls and boys were, and so did I" she spoke, blushing to herself quite nicely._

"_Anyway, he was always lonely and was raised how to take care of himself, to lead and be recognized as a powerful leader. He found out about his twin brother when he was sixteen and his father told him on his deathbed. The old man was lying down saying that if you ever meet your brother, take care of him. It was so ironic, one brother doesn't want help while the other wants to give it. Well, Adam promptly finds his brother, living in a bad neighborhood and instantly rushes down there to meet him. Can you guess what happened?" she asked. Maya shook her head, giving Andrea the pleasure of telling it._

"_Charles belts him across the face and calls him a spoiled rich kid! It was priceless! I was there and fell to the ground laughing. Well, Adam was always known for being stubborn so he continued to pester him till Charles made the challenge for him to live one year in his shoes, and he would accept him as family for the rest of his life. Adam not only excels at school down there in that slum, he organizes the local gang to a proper volunteer force, works a job to help pay his keep, and does it all with a smile on his face. Charles at the end of the year mark couldn't stop laughing before apologizing at his own thickhead and accepted him with open arms" she told her._

"_Well, that wasn't the end of it there. Adam begins from that point on to take care of Charles as if he were a little brother. He paid for his college tuition fees, pulls strings in the political game to get criminal records removed, and even gets him and his non blood brother Manuel enlisted in the Space Forces. And that leads us all to here. You like the story?" she asked her, a little curious._

"_Actually yes, I feel like I can understand a little more where he's coming from now, and I have you to thank. Thank you very much" she said, smiling happily._

"_Good. The fee for the story is you have to be more considerate of Charles from now on. Before you even ask what I mean, think about it. You cling to him wherever he goes, you won't go to sleep without him there, you are almost useless unless he tells you to do something. He feels like your babysitter right now. Back off a little and give him some space, ok? Maybe if you ask to cling to his arm, or sleep ahead of him from time to time, he may be a little more inclined to you. I can almost promise you he will. Truth be told, he's a little horn dog. You two can be doing it like jack rabbits in no time" she said, winking to her as she began to blush uncontrollably._

"_You…you think so?" she asked, causing Andrea to laugh again._

"_Baby, I know so. Now, sit back and let's make sure sleeping beauty gets his sleep" Andrea spoke as Maya sat next to her as they both watched the screen together, content and happy, something that was an all too brief sensation here._


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter Ten**_

_*************_

_Earth Time: Unknown_

_*************_

_Charles felt their presence all around him, like an all encompassing blanket that surrounded him with nurturing warmth and protective shelter. He couldn't hear words, only whispers, thoughts, and emotions as he lay adrift in a black void. He couldn't see for his eye lids felt like lead weights, he couldn't move for his body felt like it were covered in iron, and he could barely breathe in each breath as if he were running a mile. The presence around him however supported him, gave him strength that made the existence far more pleasurable. They swarmed him with emotions, of joy at his arrival, curiosity as to where he was in comparison to them, and to how many progeny he possessed._

_One presence, an unbearably strong one, zipped through his body, as welcoming as the others at first, but suddenly halted. It was alarmed, this new being was strange. It sifted through his thoughts, trying to find something familiar, though it felt distinctly alien at the same time. The tide of joy suddenly halted and turned to confusion, fear, and anger. Who was this foreign invader? How could he be connected to them? Was he dangerous?_

_Thousands of questions assaulted his mind, tearing at his fabric of being like a typhoon. He was dangerous to them, they would have him, they would devour him, and they would use his corpse to form more children, more progeny, and more guardians to protect them from the slayings._

_Slayings? What slayings? What were they thinking about? No sooner did the thought enter his mind then he was suddenly assaulted by visions, sights and sounds. Creatures that could warp the light around them, fooling the most base creatures. They could sense them, taste their stench in the air, but they couldn't fight. They were strong, they were fast, and they hunted them for sport, taking away the fallen children to suffer horrible deaths._

_As he further probed the images, he felt his body repelled. The powerful presence was enraged that this invader would steal their knowing, what they shared collectively. With a terrible rush, Charles felt himself thrown out of the dream, the horrible nightmare of a thousand voices echoing together into one word, one word that described how they felt about Charles. _

_That word was enemy._

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day Ten, 1035_

_*************_

_With a sudden jolt awake, Charles focused his eyes on his immediate surroundings. He was in the ships makeshift quarters, dripping a cold sweat from his body. The whole room was dark with a soft glow emanating from the lights that were in standby mode, waiting to be brought to full glory. He was safe and sound and by no means in any harm._

"_Well, rise and shine sleepy. Guess how long you were out?" came the familiar voice of Manuel from the vague outline of a chair with his body sitting comfortably in it. A quick survey of the area around it was littered with magazines, textbooks, any kind of reading material that could be found. It was obvious that he was sitting in that chair and reading, waiting patiently for Charles to awaken._

"_I don't know, a couple of hours? Last thing I remember was passing out in-"he spoke when his eyes widened._

"_Oh my god!!! Quick, put a tranquilizer in me!! I have one of those-"he tried to speak when Manuel pushed him back over to a lying down position._

"_The correct answer is you been sleeping like a baby for five days, and don't worry about your little critter you think is inside you, Maya cut him out. He's a cute little fellow when he's not gnashing his teeth at his shielded cage. Guess Maya doesn't want you to have any kids but hers, huh?" he joked making a wide grin in his direction._

"_Cut it out? Wait, do you mean…" he began to say when the realization struck him hard. Lifting his shirt up he saw the surgical scar right down his sternum, the only proof that he was even saved from the gruesome and terrible fate._

"_It's out of me? And Maya did it? You mean she's actually a GOOD doctor?" he asked, surprised that the little psycho who wouldn't leave him alone actually cut him open and didn't fawn over him while doing it._

"_Actually man, she's an awesome doctor. Saved the two other techs that were with you too. We got the three snakes locked in an energy barrier cage so they can't get out so we can study them" he spoke, patting Charles on the shoulder warmly. _

_What felt like a flash of white hot lighting surged through his brain, and for a moment he could only think about how hungry he was. It was understandable though, he hadn't eaten in five days, and he's bound to be a little famished._

"_Anyways, let's get you up and moving. We were actually planning on throwing the little suckers into space soon, so I want you to get a good look at your baby" Manuel said, laughing to himself and helping to hoist Charles to his feet._

_The same flash of pain raged through his head again. It was an intense urge to eat, almost like an inescapable craving that demanded he eat and eat now._

"_Mind if we grab some food first? I need to eat something" he spoke as Manuel hoisted his backpack, opening the lid to show to him at least a dozen packs of rations._

"_Got you covered, let's go" he said and continued to hoist him along and carry him like a rag doll. Charles didn't even wait to tear into the first ration he could, rending the dried meat and stale bread like it was the most delicious substance in the world. Nothing else seemed to matter at the point…_

_All that mattered was he was hungry no longer._

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day Ten, 1100_

_*************_

_Raged filled its mind. Trapped within its prison with two of his comrades, he lashed at the cage with terrible ferocity. They laughed and jeered at it, throwing scraps of food at it which he gobbled up to grow stronger. The two others trapped inside the barrier as well listened to its words only because he was stronger, faster, and meaner than them. It was also smarter. It knew the queen would come to save them; it could feel their pain and needed them. It was strange they were the only progeny formed, but it was not its place to question, only to follow commands._

"_So, what are we going to do with the serpents? Throw them out to space or just let them starve in their prisons?" one of the pinky fleshy beasts spoke to a large bald one, obviously a seasoned warrior amongst their society. It never understood how it alone could understand their language while its brethren couldn't, but it made no motions as to understanding, lest it give away its only advantage. It needed to be patient if it was to survive._

_"They are a threat. Once we have gathered all the data we can from them, we shall jettison them into the vacuum of space, see if they can live without oxygen" he spoke. The words it instantly recognized as danger and knew very soon they would have to act if they were going to live through this ordeal. A door opened to the side, and in entered another set of the creatures that held them captive._

_No…one wasn't one of them, it was something special. Its body was completely unremarkable, similar to the others, but it could definitely feel the mind, the consciousness that controlled them, that could direct them._

_It was their queen._

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day Ten, 1105_

_*************_

_Maya felt joy as she saw Charles walk into the room as she stood from the observation deck. She always felt sick looking at the serpents as they were screeching and bearing their teeth in sudden violence, the newly dubbed species they had captured, but she was required to examine them for purposes of medical research and she was also required to examine the bodies of the spiders, the species that seemed to carry the serpents to the host. She discovered that they were a xenomorphic creature that started its life cycle in what she could only assume was an egg, hatched into a spider which then sought out hosts to victimize, and then burst forth in a messy explosion of birth to form the serpents that at first looked like very long snakes, thus their namesake, and grew to form the adult versions that held such terror in their minds. _

_All that was lost to her now as she saw Charles walking again. She instantly felt the impulse to rush him and embrace him tightly, but she fought that urge, remembering Andrea's words of wisdom to give him his space. Catching and holding her breath, she took measured steps to walk up to him very casually and calmly and stopped just a few feet from him. She noticed almost instantly how he tensed seeing her, proving that he was indeed not happy to see her, a realization that upset her greatly. She needed to fix her image to him, so they would be happy together, she wouldn't screw up, and that she promised herself._

_"I'm glad to see you're awake Char- I mean Lieutenant Trezice. I was worried you might have had some complications after the surgery since your parasite was a little different from the rest, but I see you're doing well" she spoke with a slight smile and a quivering voice. The look of astonishment in his eyes spoke volumes of how she had behaved before and of how he thought of her. It was an image she would need to correct._

"_I…I wish to humbly apologize for my recent behavior. I was behaving like a scared little girl while you and you're team fought bravely and valiantly to protect us. If you can forgive my breach of etiquette, I would like to make a fresh start" she spoke, holding her breath till he spoke, praying he would respond favorably, not knowing what she would do if he refused her. _

_Scratching his head absently, he seemed at an equal loss for words before he finally spoke a minute later._

"_Uh, yes, I accept Miss Kuro. I understand why you were acting like you were. I mean, we all get scared sometimes. Don't sweat it" he spoke. His words lifted her spirit and she felt revitalized, but there was still one thing left she had to do._

"_Would…would it be ok if…if I could…hold your arm? If I become an annoyance or you need to take care of something, I understand, but I really am fond of you" she spoke shyly. With a half hearted shrug, he nodded and pushed out his arm for her to latch onto, which she wasted no time in taking, trying to be as gentle as she could but still coming off as digging her hands into his flesh. She would work on the details later, but for now, she could at least hold his arm again and that was all that mattered._

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day Ten, 1110_

_*************_

_Adam watched his brother with Captain Kuro and Sergeant Sierra together at the entrance. It was fairly inspiring that she would make the effort to better herself to give an appropriate impression to him, though he could still see the undercurrents of her deep infatuation with him, but at least she was trying to earn his care instead of demanding it. He decided to remind her of no fraternization between officers later, but for now, there were more important things to be done._

"_Ah, Lieutenant and Sergeant, glad you could join us. We were going to prepare the next meeting without you if you didn't wake up in the next three days, but now we can move the schedule up a bit. First though, I want you to take a look, a good look, at what were facing" he spoke before ushering them closer to the cages, parting the crowd of soldiers all gathering around to see the dreaded beast. Charles looked to be stricken with a wave of nausea upon looking, and though Adam was far used to looking at the beings they captured and grew up with the scraps of food they tossed in to witness its life cycle, it was understandable how Charles could be sickened to look at them. They were being unusually violent and vocal, assaulting the cage in mass as if to tear out and escape their imminent deaths._

_"See the red one there? We call him Scarlet since he looks different from the other two in there. That's the one we pulled out of you. We think he's a special breed, but we aren't too sure" Manuel said. Somehow, the look in Charles eyes was strange. There was a certain glaze to it as he looked at the force cage, no larger than twenty by twenty feet. He seemed to look past it stare at the creatures inside, as if he were a frightened child looking into a real life nightmare. Maya was second to notice this as she tugged his arm, trying to coax him back to reality, only to have her voice fall upon deaf ears. Charles suddenly began clasping at his head with both his hands, as if trying to stop the wailing of the serpents from reaching his ears. Adam noticed that Scarlet wasn't screeching at random, it almost seemed like it was calling out to something, its howls precise. _

"_Shut up, shut up…" Charles began to whisper to himself like a mantra, trying to block out the sounds._

"_Manuel, remove Lieutenant Trezice now, we are releasing the serpents out the airlock now" he spoke, making a signal to Captain Clayborne on the upper deck. As the screeching reached a deafening crescendo, Charles screamed at the top of his lungs._

"_SHUT UP!!!" he bellowed. The serpents fell silent, all staring silently at him. Turning to look at Charles, Adam stared at him in almost disbelief, wondering if he had truly forced the monsters to listen to his commands._

"_Brother…they are calling to me. They don't want to die" Charles spoke. Manuel looked at him in astonishment._

"_Well tough shit for them, they don't get the choice. Major, blast those fuckers out of here" he spoke, but Charles resisted and broke free from both Maya and Manuel both to stand on his own feet without support._

"_Wait, I know this is crazy, but listen to me. They are calling to me, they want to help me, and these ones aren't dangerous" he spoke again._

"_They are completely dangerous; there isn't anything NOT dangerous about them! Look, you must be more tired than we thought, let's get you to sleep and-"Manuel spoke before Adam silenced him._

"_Then we won't jettison them into space, but we won't release them. They will stay in those fields till we figure out a solution" Adam spoke, calmly and with a level head._

"_Major, you can't be serious?!" Manuel objected, looking at him as if he had just said the sky was falling._

"_If they really aren't dangerous, then they will be invaluable in reconnaissance and maybe covert missions into the rest of the colony for supplies. If we have some serpents on our side, then they will blend with the others, making our missions that much simpler" he spoke calmly. Looking back at the serpents, Scarlet specifically, he examined him and saw that it almost looked like it was smiling. _

"_I know you understand me you deranged little creature, first moment I think you might try anything, I will not hesitate to put a bullet in your head" he hissed. _

_No one else seemed to notice the whispered threat, and it might have been his imagination, but Adam could swear he saw Scarlet's head nod._


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter Eleven**_

_* ************_

_Earth time: day Ten, 1110_

_*************_

_Stalking through the halls of the hunting ground, Diablo remained cloaked, lest he give away his position to whatever prey happened to stray too near. He was found to be worthy of his hunting troupe, though they all seemed to regard him as new blood, not truly accepted but not rejected. For him, it was a start, and that's all he needed to prove his abilities. This was going to be his time to shine above them all, to prove that he was destined to for greatness._

_A sound caught his attention, like a subdued sob. Flicking through his spectrums of vision, he surveyed the area around him till he found what he was looking for, the source of the crying being a small child, crying beside the corpse of a woman with her chest cavity tore open, a sign that the victim was impregnated by their prey. The child was a small girl with strawberry blonde hair and freckles covering her entire face and emerald green eyes. She was a lithe little thing, probably no older than eight cycles of their home worlds rotation, a dishonorable target for him to hunt. He almost passed it by in search of more worthy prey when a sudden thought struck him…_

_Where there is one of their kind, others are sure to be close by._

_*************_

_Earth time: day Ten, 1300_

_*************_

_Private Hunter was one of the lucky ones. When things started to go to hell, he was stationed in one of the active armories with almost unlimited supplies of weapons, ammunition, and armor. He was even able to lead successful rescue missions for several trapped or lost people on the station, bringing his total survivor count to little over thirty. The motion trackers and sentry guns alerted his team of any incoming hostiles, and his ranger training he thought he would never again be able to use again due to his prosthetic eye making him ineligible for combat is what allowed him to keep his cool under fire from the unknown threat. _

_He knew he was lucky._

_As his team swept through one of the districts looking for rations, the sector absolutely reeked of blood. Never had he seen such slaughter, such carnage, such unneeded waste of life. As he started to round a corner he halted his squad with a raised hand motion. He heard something like muffled crying. He looked around trying to determine the source of the crying, straining his hearing to locate the sound. _

"_Captain, what's the matter?" one of the newer people he started taking out on the squad runs asked. He told them all he wasn't a captain, but he was the only one who wasn't in total hysteria over the incidents on board so he was unofficially elected the "Captain" of their survivor squad. _

"_I hear crying, like from a little girl" he spoke as he made tentative steps forward. The sound grew louder and louder, and it indeed was that of what could only have been a little girl crying her eyes out, something he could understand completely. He saw many good men cry in the face of this utter madness, but he didn't hold it against anyone, this wasn't something any man, woman, or child should have to deal with._

_As he turned a corner, he saw in the middle of the hallway the source of the wailing, a small girl with blonde hair, freckles, and large green eyes._

"_Let's go men" he spoke, telling them all to follow after him in protective formation. As they encircled the girl, she started to stop her tears long enough to look at each of them. Hunter knelt down and examined her. Aside from some bruising and a few cuts, she was fine. She didn't have any strangulation marks as the victims of the spider aliens left, she didn't have any broken bones, she was completely fine._

"_It's ok young one, were here to keep you safe" he spoke. The little girl stopped sobbing for a moment to say only a few words, barely above a whisper._

"_Run, the ghost will get you if you don't run" she spoke. The thought was almost laughable, in this world of real life monsters, this girl was scared of ghosts?_

"_Don't worry, were military. We have ghost killing guns, we can-" he spoke when suddenly several lights exploded around them._

"_Jesus, what the hell was that?!" one of the guys asked in vain, looking around as if someone could give him the answers he was seeking. _

_The only thing he found was a strange bolt of energy tear right through his back side and out the other side of him, as if the advanced body armor was paper. _

_The remaining five men in the squad, including Hunter, instantly took defensive positions, flicking on their motion trackers and illumination globes at the end of their guns, looking for whatever killed their squad mate. It was hunter who saw it first, though it was strange. It wasn't entirely there, it looked like it was a man shaped figure that was almost near invisible, only given away by its movement. As his gun hesitated over it, the eyes flashed with a demonic yellow light, sending almost all of his men screaming._

"_Eat this freak!!" he shouted, unleashing a volley into the area it was standing before he suddenly realized it had charged and lifted one of his comrades and used him to block their rounds, silencing the poor man and reducing him to nothing more than a meat shield. Without a moment's hesitation, the thing lobbed the corpse at one man knocking him over before pulling out a strange dual blade and sliced one man so neatly in half, he was still screaming as his upper torso hit the floor, clutching to keep his intestines inside him in a fruitless effort._

_"Mathias!! Take the girl and run!! NOW!!" he shouted to one of the only men still standing as he continued to unleash volley after volley at the thing. Mathias did exactly that as he scooped up the girl and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. The creature performed a stomp on the throat of the only other living person in that area, leaving Hunter to face the creature alone. It stared straight at him for a long moment, as if it were evaluating him, judging him. Throwing down his blaster rifle, he took up a martial arts pose, one he picked up from his special training._

"_Come on you bastard, fight me one on one" he challenged the invisible creature, knowing this was his best option on defeating something that used its weapons to tear through his men like they weren't even there._

_Whatever it was he said, the thing listened, throwing down the blades and pressing a point on his arm. Slowly, the creature began to fade from its invisibility, leaving a massive and muscular form. Its face, obscured by a mask had several dreadlocks fall down on either side of its head as it stared at him and began to unclasp its face plate. The sound of hissing gases escaped through tubes as buckles unfastened, revealing to something straight out of a nightmare. The thing had mandibles similar to that of a spider and a rubbery hide skin with two eyes, much like a humans, but that was the only thing similar. _

"_What the hell are you?" he asked, terror clearly defined in his face. The thing responded in less than a moment with a mockingly human voice as he spoke one word._

"_Diablo". It was the end of that word that the beast launched itself at him. _

_With several powerful punches, Hunter aimed for the face, hoping to cause some damage to its ability to see, but the thing merely shrugged it off before punching him right in the gut with a powerful strike. If he hadn't tightened his muscles at the last moment, he would have crumpled to the floor, he had no doubt. Rolling away to the side, he tried to kick out the things legs from out from under it, but its legs were like solid oak, refusing to break or give way to his strikes. With a falling elbow strike, the creature tried to strike at the base of his neck. With a flash of movement however, Hunter spun around and caught the arm, locking it out as he began to try and bend it back enough to break it. The creature, seeing this plan, lifted him straight into the air with his arm and slammed him into the nearest wall, forcing him to let go. As hunter hacked up blood, he ducked and rolled away to try and stay out of the things range. It was a skilled fighter, and strong. It was inhumanly strong and would easily over power him in a moment. He had only one chance to try and beat the thing and he knew it._

_Dropping low and rushing in, he lunged out with a feint to distract him, succeeding as he made to catch him. Whirling around to the things back, he hooked his arms around its neck, and began to try and choke the life out of it. The creature felt this, and with an almost chuckle, slammed his back straight into the wall with the force of a truck. Hunter barely could stand as he released the things neck as it turned onto him and lifted him by his own neck, choking the life out of him. As he began to fade out, his vision turning black from the lack of oxygen, he managed to utter out his final words._

"_Burn…in hell…asshole" he spoke before he finally lost all consciousness and slipped into the black void he could only figure to be death._

_Maybe he wasn't so lucky after all…_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chapter Twelve**_

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day eleven, 0800 hours_

_*************_

"_Step forward five steps" the voice of Scarlet's queen spoke from outside the barrier. Scarlet found it was slowly beginning to understand the world around it, from the metallic walls to the force grid that protected them and kept them safe from the other serpents. It didn't quite understand how it knew all this, especially since the other two serpents with him didn't even understand words, only the queen's feelings and emotions, but it knew it was special. Scarlet took five steps forward in the expanded cage, watching around as the people all watched in horror as the creature listened. The other two rushed the cage, feeling only the queens desire for them to go forward, sending electrical ripples over the things entirety, causing more than one of the humans to scream and scurry away. With a loud hiss to the two, they fell back to right behind Scarlet, bullied into obedience._

"_Lift your tails" the Queen spoke again, rubbing the temples of its head. Scarlet could feel the queens pain, something was causing its head to throb, to keep it awake at night and unable to fully rest and replenish its lost stamina, like a constant assault within its mind. Scarlet complied and raised his tail impressively to the air and even turning around to hiss at the others to do exactly as it had. The other two raised their tails as well, though it was fairly certain they would have started attacking the cage again since they rose their tails usually meant they needed to attack something. The Queen's mind felt pride and a slight sense of relief, centered on Scarlet. A wave of pleasure washed over Scarlet knowing it was viewed with a sense of pride from its Queen, that it was superior in its performance to the growth and survival of its colony._

_Climb onto each other…_

_Scarlet felt the Queen's desire for them to form a makeshift pyramid before it even spoke the command. Looking to the other two, it snarled and made them cringe low as it climbed onto their backs. The Queen's look of shock showed it didn't expect them to follow its instruction before it even gave it, but the feelings of pride didn't fade from Scarlet since it knew it performed a good job. _

"_Um, Charles? you're brother wants to see you" came the voice of the Queens partner. The other two instantly picked up on the desire to mate from the Queen and launched themselves at the cage in an attempt to hold the host down for the Queen, lashing at the cage in an attempt to break free and assist. All that happened was the mate retreated behind the Queen and the strong desire for them to stop assaulted their minds. Scarlet knew better than to perform such an antic, it knew that progeny from the queen grew in a different manner. The eggs were implanted directly and grew within the host for many months before leaving in a less violent explosion from the abdomen area, but was truly unique was the host lived. It lived to perform the cycle again and again, allowing for even one host to supply a large colony in an environment of few hosts to be found._

_"All of you, stop it!" The Queen commanded, and the others stopped, leaving Scarlet standing alone in the middle of the cage, not moving since the others attempt to assist the Queen. It was then that he was gifted with what Scarlet desired._

"_Good job Scarlet" the Queen spoke before walking away with its host. _

_Scarlet was content with this and laid down to rest, to wait for its next meal to be thrown to it…_

_To be given the chance to prove it was useful._

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day Eleven, 0810 hours_

_*************_

_Charles headache didn't seem to fade with time as he had originally hoped it would. Every time he tried to sleep, he found his mind assaulted with the same dream, of being held in air suspended and unable to move, and a host of voices with no words attacked him, trying to dissect him for information, for locations, for numbers, anything at all. Sometimes they just tore at him to hurt him, causing no end to the amount of pain he felt with every passing moment in his slumber. That wasn't the matter at the moment though, he needed to talk with his brother and the progress of the Serpents._

_Sitting next to Maya, he sat opposite his brother and Captain Clayborne who both sat in silence till they were ready for him to speak._

"_Well, I have to say they respond to commands very well. Scarlet shows incredible aptitude in obeying commands while Blackjack and Jet respond more to…feelings I have and emotions then actual words" he reported. His brother looked him over and after a few moments replied._

"_That troubles me, how come Scarlet responds well to commands and not the others? Is he a special breed? Is he truly sentient? Is he laying a trap, waiting for us to release him before committing some act of sabotage that could endanger us all?" he spoke, causing Charles to stand up._

"_No, Scarlet is completely trustworthy. I know he wouldn't do anything against my will" Charles spoke. Clayborne and Adam both seemed a little unnerved at his defense of the creature, but Charles knew that Scarlet wasn't a danger, he was an asset that would help greatly._

"…_Regardless of your testimony, I think we will continue to have them in the containment" Adam spoke before standing up._

"_Dismissed" Captain Clayborne stated and began to walk off, leaving only Maya and Charles in the room alone together._

_"Are you alright Charles? You don't look so well right now. If you like I can give you a quick check up" Maya offered, her concern for him evident on her face. Despite the fact she was giving him a lot more room and not clinging to him every single moment, he couldn't help but feel that she was coming on to him too strong. He did however start to notice she was a beautiful woman and more than once he found himself fantasying about playing doctor with her._

"_No, I'm fine. Just having trouble sleeping" he spoke._

"_I can give you some sleeping medication if you like, we have some in the supplies" she replied, almost seeming desperate to be of some help. _

"_Nah, I just need some company when I go to sleep, care to join me?" he joked, chuckling a little to himself as she turned very red._

"_Well…if it's you…if it's for medicinal reasons…" she began to mutter and whisper to herself taking the joke very seriously. Patting her on the head, he smiled down at her, amused at how gullible she truly was._

"_It's a joke, I'm fine, don't worry about it" he told her as he began to get up and walk away when one of the medical staff came in a rush._

"_Captain Kuro!! We have a situation! A survivor from the station collapsed at our entrance. We brought him in but he needs immediate medical attention" the young woman responded. Maya lingered for an extra moment before taking off in the direction of the makeshift medical lab they made. Charles merely kicked his legs up on the table and began to relax for a minute._

"_It's good to get some alone time every once in a while" he spoke to himself as he continued to let his mind wander._

_*************_

_Earth Time: Day Eleven, 0820 hours_

_* ************_

_Maya was rushing to the medical room with her mind elsewhere. How did someone else make it to this sector of the ship alive? How did anyone manage to survive this long on their own? More importantly, was this person carrying a serpent inside them? When she entered the room, she saw the patient already out on the table, back cut and slashed open, stab marks all over, and even a few burns from acid spittle. He obviously was fighting the serpents but it was unclear how he survived. A small tug on her sleeve alerted her to the small girl who stood next to her the whole time without being noticed._

"_Are you going to help him?" she asked. He must have brought the little girl with him Maya thought since there were no children anywhere in their camp. Smiling, Maya reached down and gave her a reassuring hug._

"_Don't worry, I won't let your daddy die" she spoke and then immediately began giving commands._

"_I need antiseptic to cleanse the wounds and needle and thread to sew some stitches. Check his vitals and ensure his airway isn't obstructed" she spoke._

"_I'm not dead, not yet anyways doctor" the man spoke, giving her a scare._

"_Name's Private Williams. I was with my squad when we found the little girl" he spoke as Maya began to work, recovering from the initial shock of him still being awake after having so many grievous wounds. She dabbed the antiseptic on with care as he gritted his teeth against the burning sensation it created to cleanse any infection from the wounds._

"_I'm sorry, would you like some pain killers?" she asked as she continued her work._

"_Nah, I'll be fine. Anyways, my squad found the girl and then we were attacked by something…I don't know what the hell hit us but it was invisible, strong, and fast. Most importantly, it wasn't the Aliens" he spoke as he suddenly began to clench his jaw from the stabbing motion Maya made with her needle and thread to pull together his broken flesh._

"_It could have been a different type of the Aliens, they have several different life cycles we have witnessed so far" she spoke as she continued her work._

"_No, it was something different. It was using weapons and I swear it shot us with an energy weapon. It's something…new…I tell…ya" he spoke as he faded out of consciousness, obviously his reserves of energy all spent. Maya was confident he was going to make it, but if what he said were true, then there was something here they hadn't even considered yet. The sight of the buoy network outside the station suddenly came to mind, and the horrible mutilation of both the serpents and humans in the one room they saw also sprung vividly into her mind. Could they be connected? She resolved to bring this issue to Charles when she next found a chance, but for now, she needed to concentrate on her work so that this man's brave journey would continue and he wouldn't die, not yet anyway._


End file.
